THE MOA

Southland Times, Issue 17972, 13 March 1917, Page 6

THE MOA

ITS KNOWN HISTORY. AN INSTRUCTIVE PAPER The following paper was recently road by Mr J. Crosby Smith, F.L.S., before the Invercargill Naturalists’ Society and the lecturer's remarks were illustrated with a number of interesting lantern slides: — THE MOA. As we are now accumulating a large number of moa bones in the museum, I have thought it well to give you something of a resume of what is known up to the present about these birds. New Zealand natural history lias had nothing which lias created more interest than its extinct moas. That they are now extinct must be admitted by everyone who has paid attention to the subject. At what approximate date they ceased to exist is still a matter for conjecture. The literature upon the moa would fill a small library, probably half of whicli contradicts the other half. One point which is clearly established is that they were entirely wingless, with perhaps the exception of one genus. Every Known bird with the exception of the moa has had wings of some kind, although many have been and are of tbe most rudimentary kind, such as the notornls, kiwi, kakapo, weka and penguins. It is known that moas were wingless, partly from the fact that no wing-bones have been found, and also from the positive evidence that the skeleton shows no place for them to fit into, or as the scientist would say, to articulate upon.

FIRST DISCOVERT OF MOA BONES. It would appear that Mr J. S. Pollack in his hook upon "New Zealand," published in 1838, was the first to record the discovery of moa bones, but a Dr Rule had sent to Sir Richard Owen in 1830, the middle portion of a femur. Between 183 D and 1843 large numbers of moa bones were obtained by the Rev. Mr Colenso and Rev. W. Williams from the East Cape and sent Home, which were handed by . the recipients to Sir Richard Owen. Following these, large numbers of bones were turned up in the North Island. In the South Island the first to discover moa bones were Dr Mackellar and Mr Percy Earl at Waikouaiti in 1846. These though were as a drop in a bucket compared to finds made later, and until quite recent years, but these I will consider further on.

From the materials received during the first seven or eight years by Sir Richard Owen he was able to distinguish and put together some five species. It was not till 184 0 that he made known to the scientific world the former existence of a struthious bird far exceeding the ostrich in size. It however differed from that bird in many important particulars, so much so that he placed it in a separate order which he called Dinornithidae. Birds are divided into two great classes, those which can fly and those which cannot, called respectively Carinates and Ratitae. The moas belong to this latter class. There are five orders placed in the Ratitae, viz.:

1. Struthionidae, or Ostriches of Africa, which are two-toed. 2. • Rheidae, containing the three-toed Rhea of South America. 3. Casuaridae, the Emu and Cassowary, which are also three-toed. 4. Dinornithidae, or moas, which are probably all four-toed. 5. .Apterygidae, containing the kiwis. That the moas have existed in enormous numbers is amply proved by the thousands of skeletons which have been found in almost every corner of New Zealand. Veritable moa cemeteries containing, in an incredibly small space, many hundreds of almost complete skeletons. Take Kapua for instance, a place near the head of Waimate Gorge, in Canterbury, Captain Hutton unearthed nearly 3000 principal bones of moas from an excavation only 30ft x 20ft. The bones found in this place represented no less than five genera and very many species. After casting out all the bones not sufficiently good for measurement, Captain Hutton had left: —Metatarsi (ankle bone) 749, tibia (shin bone) 645, femora (thigh bone) 616, skulls 54, sterna 230, pelves 93, in all sufficient to represent not less than 800 birds. Some years later another huge patch of bones was unearthed at Enfield, near Oamaru, while ploughing up a swampy gully in a paddock. "After rejecting all the bones of young birds and others too imperfect for measurements,” Capt. Hutton again says, "1 had 1031 leg bones left, made up as follows: —Metatarsi 368, tibiae 296, femora 387, skulls 74, sterna 45, pelves 35.” It was found that these bones represented four genera and eleven species. At Glenmark, North Canterbury, at the foot of the hills there were more than a thousand moas obtained. In 1875 a moa bone pit was discovered at Hamilton, in Central Otago, which contained bones sufficient to account for 400 moas. Again at a place called Te Aute, at Napier, the late Mr A. Hamilton and others found in a swamp a very large collection, amongst them being some of the largest moas recorded from the North Island. In nearly all the above finds other extinct birds were found mixed up with the moa bones, such as the large extinct eagle, and extinct goose, the notornis; also bones of the kakapo and kiwi. As to how such large collections of bones became deposited in the small patches just mentioned we will leave for later discussion. Smaller finds have been noted in innumerable places throughout the dominion, but I will only mention a few of a local character. SOUTHLAND MOAS.

In 1893 two almost complete skeletons were found on the Riverton beach byMessrs Graves, Broderick, and Ewan, near the road through the sandhills leading to the sea; they had been buried beneath Sft or 3 oft of sand. Gizzard stones and pieces of egg shell were also found with the skeletons. Both skeletons belong to Dinornis Maximus and are deposited in the Canterbury Museum.

Another entire skeleton was found very near the same place the year following by Mr A. Hamilton. This proved to be of different genera from the previous two, viz., Euryapteryz ponderosa, and is now set up in the Otago Museum. Thus Southland lost three good and entire skeletons, which ought now to be adorning our own museum.

On May 10th, 1882, Mr A. Hamilton read a paper before the Otago Institute giving a description of how lie and Mr Mitchell, of this town, had found bones hidden in a limestone cave at Castle Hock near Dumsden. Besides bones of many extinst birds several entire skeletons of the moa were found. Mr Hamilton remarks on these: —"During the excavations I found several moa skeletons under circumstances of great interest, for in at least three instances the bones of the legs were found in such a position as to leave no doubt as to their belonging to one individual —in two cases still having even the slender fibula in position. The birds all belonged, with one exception to the genus Anomolapteryx, one of the small genera of the moas. The exception was the femur of a true Dinornis found in the adjoining cave. The skulls found have proved of great value as demonstrating the structure of the skull in young individuals and have been worked up by Prof. Jeffrey Parker,

F.R.S., in his valuable paper on the moa. Whilst the examination of the skulls was proceeding the curious feather pits on the occipital portion were observed, and found ,to occur plainly on some of the specimens—probably the males. The splendid preservation of the bones has enabled two skeletons to be set up which are very complete and especially perfect in the skull region. . We have bones in the museum (many of which have been collected by jMr Gibb) from Waikawa, Tahakopi, Haldane, Waipapa, Fortrose, Ocean Beach, Back Beach, ‘VVakatipu, Riverton Beach and Manapouri. At Stewart Island two moa bones have been found. All these were more or less found on sandhills. Dry sand seems to be a preservative for bird bones. Sand contains no acid to act as a solvent, such as some soils have; limestone caves, too, as well as the water of peaty swamps, seems to preserve moa bones for ages. Probably moas have died all over Southland, but their skeletons were not proof against exposure to the air and have dissolved away. The museum bones are now on exhibition in the room. It will be noticed there is quite a series of Metatarsi representing several species. Most Maori middens produce moa bones in considerable quantities, showing clearly that human beings at some time' have undoubtedly made meals off this gigantic bird. These middens have been great collecting grounds for the moa remains. While it is easy to account for the bones found on middens, it is not so easy to establish the manner in which they have been deposited in such places as Te Aute, Hamilton, Enfield, and other similar places. At Te Aute at the bottom of a drain 10 feet wide by 15 feet long more than 1000 bones were found. How could such a large number be accumulated in such a small space? Mr Hamilton who found them concludes that “the most tenable hypothesis is that the spot was a narrow crossing place in a swampy forest and that the springs, which were still existent, caused the ground to be so soft and swampy that moas were often bogged and unable to extricate themselves.” Then again at Kapua, where Captain Hutton collected nearly 3000 bones in a place 30 feet x 20 feet. How did these get there? This happened to be the exit of an old lake and the captain explains that “the burying of these moas was, most probably due to floods, caused cither by heavy rain or by rapid melting of snow; and if trees were floated into the lake they must have floated to a greater distance than the moas —perhaps out of the lake altogether. With regard to the deposits at Hamilton, Centra! Otago, from which bones weighing some four or five tons were taken and equaling 400 moas. The deposit covered a space 40ft x 18ft., half moon shape, and from 2ft. to 4ft. deep. This was part of an old dry lagoon. (To be continued.)