We Often Find
Some Of Their Bones Lying In A Heap Upon The Ground, But Never A Perfect
Skeleton.
Little heaps of their gizzard stones, too, are constantly
found.
They consist of very smooth and polished flints and cornelians,
with sometimes quartz. The bird generally chose rather pretty stones.
I do not remember finding a single sandstone specimen of a moa gizzard
stone. Those heaps are easily distinguished, and very common. Few
people believe in the existence of a moa. If one or two be yet living,
they will probably be found on the West Coast, that yet unexplored
region of forest which may contain sleeping princesses and gold in ton
blocks, and all sorts of good things. A gentleman who lives at the
Kiakoras possesses a moa's egg; it is ten inches by seven. It was
discovered in a Maori grave, and must have been considered precious at
the time it was buried, for the Maoris were accustomed to bury a man's
valuables with him.
I really know of few other birds to tell you about. There is a good
sprinkling more, but they form no feature in the country, and are only
interesting to the naturalist. There is the kiwi, or apteryx, which is
about as large as a turkey, but only found on the West Coast. There is
a green ground parrot too, called the kakapo, a night bird, and hardly
ever found on the eastern side of the island. There is also a very rare
and as yet unnamed kind of kaka, much larger and handsomer than the kaka
itself, of which I and another shot one of the first, if not the very
first, observed specimen.
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