SKELETON OF MOA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3802, 25 January 1927, Page 82

SKELETON OF MOA.

COMPLETE SPECIMEN POUND. DISCOVERY AT THAMES. THAMES, January 17. What is claimed to be one of the most valuable ornithological finds in the history of the Dominion was made recently by Mr C. A. M‘Call at Matamata, on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, near Thames. At Matamata there is a fine stretch of ocean beach backed by immense sand dunes. Shortly after a heavy southwesterly gale, which lasted several day, Mr M'Call noticed a channel had been cut through one of the dunes to a length of about five chains. Prompted by curiosity he entered the channel, and in the centre came upon a heap of bones • which, on examination, proved to be an almost complete skeleton of a moa. There were also fragments of one or two eggs, the shells of which were still quite hard. Other small bones and beaks, which might have belonged to the young offspring, were found together with a small heap of pebbles that had been swallowed, and dozens of small rings that had formed part of the monster’s windpipe. The jaw carried a row of sharp pointed _ teeth rather smaller in size than those of a porpoise. Mr S. C. M'Call, the father of the finder, who is a keen naturalist, places the find as over 500 years old, and has offered it to the curator of the Auckland Museum. Mr M'Call claims that the find furnishes the most complete specimen yet found in New Zealand, and backs his contention, with the statement that the skeletons in tho Dominion’s museums have been made up largelv with bones from other birds, or from several finds in different localities. GREAT SCIENTIFIC IMPORTANCE. AUCKLAND, January 18. The almost complete skeleton of a moa of Cela geranoides species, found by Mr C. A. M'Call at Matamataharekeke, on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, near Thames, has been forwarded to the Auckland Museum, and is under the care of the curator (Mr Gilbert Archey)_. He regards it as an important acquisition to the collection in the moa section of the museum, and a discovery that has cleared up two or three points, mostly of a scientific nature and hitherto in doubt. The value of the find was that the skeleton was almost complete, and not like many skeletons that were exhibited, made up from bo ies of various birds. It was an addition to the small number of almost complete skeletons that had been found, and was the third of these to reach the museum. The first was a Dinornis torosus, found in a cave in Takaka. near Nelson, and the second was of the type Cela Oweni, found likewise in a cave at Whangarei. Each of these dissipates a popular idea that all moas were large. Mr M'Call’s moa was only 4ft in height, and its bones are comfortably packed away in a package the size of a soap box. but it was not by any means the smallest moa. The sizes of the species varied from 14ft down to a very small height. The Cela Oweni type-was about the size of a turkey, and the Dinornis torosus about 9ft high. It has been estimated that there were 27 different species of the moa. The existence of such a varity of specis is but not without parallel in tho realm of the naturalist. Mr Archey quotes the case of the paradise birds of New Guinea which are of many different sizes and species. It was once suggested by Captain Hutton, a well-known authority on moas, that the existence of so many species might be accounted for in theory that in an earlier geological age New Zealand was partly submerged and consisted of several small islands. In this moas would become isolated, and so would differ from one another. The modern species of shags support this contention, as shags on the outlying isles of New Zealand are slightly different from each other, and from those on the mainland. Much remains to be learned about the moa, and how soon and adequately this knowledge is gained depends largely on the number of complete skeletons that are discovered. In this way the discovery by Mr M'Call is one of the most valuable in recent years. The collection in Auckland Museum is important, but not as comprehensive as tha.( which has been gathered in Canterbury, which province has proved exceptionally rich in moa fossils. The Auckland collection includes a fine reproduction of the largest species of the moa, the dinornis maximus, which stands about 24ft.