MOA SKELETON

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIV, Issue 20931, 10 January 1938, Page 11

MOA SKELETON

A FINE SPECIMEN By Telegraph—Press Association WELLINGTON, January 7. Uncovered by wind in the drifting sand of the dunes at Greenhills, Bluff, a particularly fine moa skeleton has been received from Southland by the Dominion Museum for identification and mounting. The bones were found by a prospector fossicking for gold along the foreshore after a winter gale. The drifting of the sands in this place has on many occasions revealed treasures of great scientific interest—material evidences of the culture of the ancient Maoris, and relics of the extinct moas and the men who hunted them. Previously a splendid specimen of a moa skeleton was discovered in similar circumstances at Wakapatu by Mr D. Teviotdale, of the Otago University Museum, and Mr A. King, of Orepuki. This bird was wonderfully complete, only a few small toe-bones being absent. Even the tracheal rings (a part particularly friable and quick to disappear) were found, and there were also a number of fragments of eggshell, suggesting that the bird was a female. The present skeleton was purchased from the finder by the Southland Museum, which also possesses the other specimen. It is to arrive in Wellington this morning, and will probably be unpacked on Monday by Dr. R. B. Oliver, Director of the Dominion Museum, and Mr J. Sorensen, Director of the Southland Museum, who will examine and identify it. Mr Sorensen stated yesterday that the identification of the bird, which is one of the smaller species, would possibly throw fresh light on the habits of these extinct birds.