MOA BONES

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 99, 21 April 1933, Page 6

MOA BONES

POUND IN NELSON DISTRICT SKELETONS OF NINE BIRDS (Per Press Association) NELSON, Last Night. While prospecting in the Mount Arthur area, Mr G. Fawcett, of Nelson, found a number of new’caves with numerous moa bones. Mr Fawcett found the skeletons of several adult birds, two chickens and several pieces of shell. He stated that he had not explored tRe caves thoroughly, but anticipated that there were many more bones. On rhe floors of the caves he could define the imprints of a foot. Several people declared that they had never seen bones so large as some which Mr Fawcett has in his possession. One indicates a bird of seven feet in height. At the back of Mount Arthur on the tablelands there is a miocenc limestone formation between 3000 and 4000 feet in altitude. It was in this formation, at about 3500 feet, that Mr Fawcett discovered the caves some of which were very large, being a quarter of a mile in depth and big enough in places to build a largo house in them. Five of the ten caves went right through spurs in the hills, daylight at both entrances being seen from tho inside. Tn many parts of the caves debris has fallen from the top and has covered some of the moa hones. Mr Fawcett attributes this to tho effect of the 1029 earthquake.