SCIENTIFIC COLLECTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11672, 12 April 1916, Page 3

SCIENTIFIC COLLECTION.

VALUABLE BIRD SKINS AND EGGS DEPOSITED AT CANTERBURY MUSEUM. Pr B. M. Moorliouse has dcyiositocl at Canterbury Museum his collection of natural history specimens, which, later on, will be made- available to people who wish to examine them. The collection is the result, of many years' labour, undertaken ninth great enthusia-sm and lore for the studies represented . T)r Moorliouse spent' his boyhood on his father's station at the Ra agitata. He .was' interested in natural history at an early age, and followed the pursuit in Inter years. In addition to collecting eggs and skins of native birds long before ' protective legislation was passed, be bought the collections of other persons, and saved several from destruction.' On .° nG oc " cfision wlwn he visited a friend's place ha found his boy companions pelting one another with specimens of native birds' oggs. He rescued most of the specimens, and added them to his oun. In the collection which he has deposited at the Museum there are no fewer than fifty kiwi skins and twelve skin's of' the kakapo, a very valuable bird,, whkfh ' wais reported _ from the Gouland Downs, in tl.c Nelson province, last year. The bird, also, is represented by several skins. There is one kakapo egg in'the collection, one egg of the. New Zealand cfua.il, specimens of whichtweuty-five years ago were valued at about £75 each, one egg of the white heron, several eggs of kiwis, and the eggs of other native birds, some of which cannot now be obtained, first because the birds are very rare, and secondly because the eggs and nests, as well as the birds tih«nisolv€<.% /ato, protccflod from any kind of interference. The egg of the white' heron has special value because it was collected in New Zealand. The white, heron is widely distributed., • ift is vorv plentiful in Australia, the Malay Archipelago, and parts of"Asia,..but it has become, almost extinct in New Zealand, and Dr Moorhouse's egg, from an oologist's point of view, has an added "value on account of. the fact that it, is a New Zealand egg. :• It is hot known yet how man.y items there are in the. Collection—they will be counted and classified later on—hilt there is np other collection in the Dominion with so many kiwi skins, and it is di'iubtful if tbero is, any collection of Now Zealand eggs equal to the one Dr Moorliouse will place in safe keeping at'the Museum. 'lt is about thirty years since. New Zealand birds v nhd their eggs were first adequately protected. Dr Moorliouse, of course, ceased'to add to his collection'any obtained after the law was, passed, /but he made.good use of bis opportunities in earlier years,.with- the result that lie. is able now to place before students of New Zealand natural History a highly educational collection. It certainly will give oologists facilities for studies thev have not had /before. \ In the foreign, section of the collection there are interesting ethnological specimens, obtained by Dr Moorliouse in New, Guinea. . Amongst these are skulls ,of. natives killed by the headhunting tribes. The skulls are cleaned, plastered with clay, and . the pattern of the victim's tattoo is traced on the clay as an identification mark. Another item ..is a chair made by New Guinea natives of the far interior out of a single tree, " It is in the shape of a man and was made with the ancient stone, implements, and represents the standard of art attained by the Stone Age man.