MOA BONES FOUND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20740, 6 December 1930, Page 14

MOA BONES FOUND.

POVERTY BAY DISCOVERY.

EXPEDITION FROM AUCKLAND.

CHIEFLY SMALLER SPECIES. Moa bones discovered in the Poverty Bay district were examined last week by an exploratory party representing "the Auckland Museum and Institute, and it is likely that'the collection in the War Memorial Museum will shortly be considerably enhanced. The discovery of the bones was reported by a local resident, and, as a result a party comprising Sir Carrick Robertson, Mr. F. C. Mappin and Mr. A. T. Pycroft, members of the council of the museum, and Mr. Gilbert Archey, director, spent over a week in the district, recovering the bones already reported to have been found and soarching for others. "Considerable success attended our efforts and a fair number of bones was found," said Mr. Archey yesterday. "The study of these bones will probably result in increased knowledge of the species of moa which inhabited the North Island. The bones belong chiefly to the smaller species, such as Dinornis dromioides, Anomalopteryx didiformis and Anomalopteryx curtus, species which ranged from 3ft. to sft. in height. A few bones of the larger Dinornis ingens, a species estimated to be about 10ft. high, were also obtained. These wore mostly leg bones, and they represented a fair number of birds. Some of the bones are in quite fair condition; others are somewhat abraded, but are of sufficient completeness to give the measurement details we require." Birds Trapped in Oaves.

The bones were found in caverns and clefts in the ground in places which suggested that the birds had ventured into the openings of the caves but had found the return journey impossible. The birds had died in the innermost recesses of the caverns. By the light of candles and electric torches the exploratory party pursued their eerie task, and occasionally a rope had to be utilised owing to a sudden drop in the floor of the caverns. Some of the clefts were nothing more than holes in tho ground, into which the birds had fallen without hope of escape. It is considered that tho moa was on the decline before New Zealand was inhabited, and that the final extermination was made by the Maoris. It is probably 500 years since the species became extinct in the North Island, but they are believed to have lingered longer in the South Island. It is presumed, from marks found on some bones, that the moa was hunted by the Maori and the marrow extracted from the bone. Exhibits in Museum.

The Auckland Museum already has' a comprehensive collection of moa bones. These include a preparation skeleton of the Dinornis maximus, the tallest of all known birds, and a reconstructed model of the same species as it probably appeared in life. It has not been found possible to obtain all the bones of this species, so that plaster casts have been made. The museum also has an almost complete skeleton of the Dinornis ingens, one of the commonest species, which inhabited both islands. There is also a specimen of the slightly smaller Dinornis torosus, almost complete, found only, in the South Island. There is a skeleton of the heavy Pacbyornis ponderosus, peculiar to the South 'island, and two smaller North Island species, tho Cela geranoides and the Cela oweni, the latter being the smallest of all the moas and a highlyprized exhibit. Tho bones recently discovered in Poverty Bay will not be brought to Auckland for some time.