EXISTENCE OF MOAS IN THE MURCHISON RANGES IS DOUBTED

Wanganui Chronicle, 17 June 1950, Page 6

EXISTENCE OF MOAS IN THE MURCHISON RANGES IS DOUBTED

INVERCARGILL, Yesterday (P.A.) —“I do not think there are any moas in the Murchison Ranges,” said Dr. G. B. Orbell, of Invercargill, re-discov-erer of the notornis, yesterday. Dr. Orbell said he had covered the area rather extensively and that most of the other parts not visited by him had been entered by officials of the Department of Internal Affairs. Dr. Orbell was commenting on statements made by the director of the Canterbury Museum, Mr. Roger Duff, and Messrs. B. Wisely and K. Mier, in Christchurch recently. The three men stated to the Royal Society that they believed moas might exist in the Murchison mountains between the middle and south fiords of Lake Te Anau and the coast. There was no doubt that the moa was in existence at the beginning of this century, Dr. Orbell said. “Buller’s book of birds” stated that in 1868 while the Governor, Sir George Grey, was at Preservation Inlet, he met some Maoris who gave a circumstantl account ot the recent killing of a small moa from a group of six or seven. Also, a bird with Ilin, long feet was seen by a Mrs. McKenzie at Martin's Bay in 1874, and again in 1879 footprints of a bird were seen each year until 1907 at Martin’s Bay.