The extinction of many animals that are known to have formerly existed
on the earth, is a subject which cannot very easily be explained, while
the number of them is greater than at first sight would be supposed.
Various species no doubt undergo gradual extinction by changes which
deprive them of their accustomed food; but others seem to die out from
unknown causes. During the historic period a considerable number of
animals have been swept off the British Islands, among which are the
bear, the wolf, the Irish elk, &c. In America, during the comparatively
short period of its history, various species have vanished, and others
are following them. The beaver, formerly so generally spread over the
whole of that country, is now only to be found in remote regions. The
deer and the moose are disappearing in the same manner. The bison is
very much diminished in numbers, and must ere long be extirpated.
The mastodon, a creature of enormous bulk, has totally disappeared,
although, along with the skeletons of them which have been discovered,
there are evidences of their having lived on food derived from plants
which are still existing. In other parts of the world, the dodo and the
moa have perished within the last few centuries; and the apteryx is
undergoing the same fate.
The moa or dinornis was a huge bird, of which the remains are
plentifully found in New Zealand. Within recent historic times, this
colony was tenanted, to the almost entire exclusion of mammalia, by
countless numbers of gigantic wingless birds of various genera and
species, the _Dinornis gigantea_, the largest, attaining a size nearly
thrice that of a full-grown ostrich. From traditions which are current
among the Maoris, they were fat, stupid, indolent birds, living in
forests and feeding on vegetables; while the name moa seems to have
been given to them from their peculiar cry. Since remains have been
found in great plenty, the investigation of this singular bird is of
the greatest interest to students of natural history.
It is to the Rev. Richard Taylor that the first discovery of moa
remains is due, which he thus describes: 'In the beginning of 1839 I
took my first journey in New Zealand to Poverty Bay with the Rev. W.
Williams (Bishop of Waiapu). When we reached Waiapu, near the East
Cape, we took up our abode in a native house, and there I noticed
the fragment of a large bone stuck in the ceiling. I took it down,
supposing at first that it was human; but when I saw its cancellated
structure, I handed it over to my companion, who had been brought up
to the medical profession, asking him if he did not think it was a
bird's bone. He laughed at the idea, and said: "What kind of bird could
there be to have so large a bone?" I pointed out its structure; and
when the natives came, requested him to ask them what it belonged to.
They said it was a bone of the _tarepo_, a very large bird, that lived
on the top of Hikurangi, the highest mountain on the east coast, and
that they made their largest fish-hooks from its bones. I then inquired
whether the bird was still to be met with; and was told that there
was one of an immense size which lived in a cave, and was guarded by
a large lizard, and that the bird was always standing on one leg. The
chief readily gave me the bone for a little tobacco; and I afterwards
sent it to Professor Owen by Sir Everard Home in 1839; and I think I
may justly claim to have been the first discoverer of the moa.' Mr
Taylor continued his inquiries among the natives, who informed him
that the moa was quite as large as a horse; that these birds had nests
made of the refuse of fern-root, on which they fed; and that they
used to conceal themselves in the veronica thickets, from which, by
setting them on fire, the natives drove them out and killed them; hence
originated the Maori saying: 'The veronica was the tree which roasted
the moa.' The natives further mentioned that when a moa-hunt was to
take place notice was given inviting all to the battue. The party then
spread out to inclose as large a space as possible, and drive the
birds from their haunts; then gradually contracting the line as they
approached some lake, they at last rushed forward with loud yells, and
drove the frightened birds into the water, where they could be easily
approached in canoes and despatched without their being able to make
any resistance. These moa-hunts must thus have been very destructive;
as, from the number of men employed, and the traces of long lines of
ovens in which the natives cooked the birds, and the large quantity of
egg-shells found on the western shores of New Zealand, a clear proof is
given that these birds were eagerly sought for and feasted upon. Thus
the poor moas had very little chance of continuing their race.
From a very interesting communication of the Rev. W. Williams, dated
17th May 1872, it would appear that the moa may not yet be entirely
extirpated. 'Within the last few days,' he remarks, 'I have obtained
a piece of information worthy of notice. Happening to speak to an
American about these bones, he told me that the bird is still in
existence in the neighbourhood of Cloudy Bay, in Cook's Strait. He said
that the natives there had mentioned to an Englishman belonging to a
whaling party, that there was a bird of extraordinary size to be seen
only at night on the side of a hill near the place; and that he with
a native and a second Englishman went to the spot; that after waiting
some time they saw the creature at a little distance, which they
describe as being about fourteen or sixteen feet high. One of the men
proposed to go nearer and shoot; but his companion was so exceedingly
terrified, or perhaps both of them, that they were satisfied with
looking at the bird; when after a little time it took the alarm and
strode off up the side of the mountain.'
In the _Greymouth Weekly Argus_ published in New Zealand in 1876 there
appeared a letter signed R. K. M. Smythe, Browning's Pass, Otago,
describing in a very detailed manner the capture of two living moas, a
female eight feet high, and a young one three feet shorter. The writer
finishes his account of their capture by remarking that he has little
doubt that he will be able to bring them both alive to Christchurch.
It is therefore to be hoped that living representatives of the genus
_Dinornis_ still survive. Feathers of the bird have been also found in
a state of preservation sufficiently good to shew that they possessed
an after-shaft of a large size; and at the same time tradition and the
condition in which the bones are found, retaining much of their animal
matter, tend to shew how lately the bird formed part of the existing
fauna of the country. If the letter be genuine, it cannot be long
before ornithologists, of whom there are several of no mean repute in
New Zealand, will be able to satisfy themselves on the subject.
An additional reason for supposing that these magnificent birds existed
not long ago is found in the fact that specimens of their eggs have
been preserved. In the volcanic sand of New Zealand, Mr Walter Mantell
found a gigantic egg, of the magnitude of which he gives us a familiar
idea by saying that his hat would have been just large enough to have
served as an egg-cup for it. This egg must have been one of a Dinornis
or a Palapteryx, and although its dimensions are considerably greater
than the egg of the ostrich, still it is smaller than might have been
expected from a bird from twelve to fourteen feet high. It is well
known that the egg of the New Zealand apteryx, to which the moa bears
a very close affinity, is one of dimensions that are quite surprising
in proportion to the bulk of the bird. The apteryx is about as big
as a turkey, standing two feet in height; but its egg measures four
inches ten lines by three inches two lines in the respective diameters.
To bear the same ratio to the bird as this, the egg of the _Dinornis
gigantea_ would be of the incredible length of two feet and a half by a
breadth of one and three-quarters.
In the Museum at York there is a complete skeleton of a moa, which
besides feathers, has the integuments of the feet partly preserved;
from which it is evident that the toes were covered with small
hexagonal scales. A specimen has also been sent by Dr Haast of New
Zealand to Professor Milne-Edwards, which is to be seen in the Museum
of Natural History at Paris.