The article mentioned two theories on how they got there; large tussock fires caused them to run into swamps, or they were chased there so they could be easily caught and used for food.
Since February, the Wanganui Museum authorities have recovered 2000 moa bones from the swamp on Mr. J. A. Todd’s property at Makirikiri.
The existence of the deposit has been known for 40 years and quantities of bones have been found on previous occasions, but it was not until this year that any extensive work was carried out.
A derrick was erected for the purpose of bringing the bones to the surface.
The remains are in a good state of preservation, due to some chemical in the liquid mud in which they are embedded.
It is believed that the swamp was at one time a thermal spring, which later became covered with the vegetation on which the moas fed.
Remains of Moas
The New Zealand Herald, September 26, 1934
The remains of at least a dozen moas were unearthed by a farmer recently when he was draining a swamp on his farm at Ashwick Flat, near Fairlie, Canterbury.
So far about a mile of ditch has been dug and the remains were all found within that distance.
One theory advanced for so many moas being found was that they sought shelter in the swamp during a great tussock fire but had been burned to death.
It was also mentioned that the Maoris [sic] may have been in the habit of driving the moas into the swamp before killing them.
Confirmation of the earlier supposition that the egg found in the limeworks at “The Caves,” near Craggy Range, was in fact a fossilised moa’s egg is given by Dr. A. G. Clark, of Napier, who is an official of the Hawke’s Bay branch of the Royal Society.
Dr Clark had the opportunity last evening of examining the pieces of the shell and other finds, including portions of a gourd, the discovery of which may lead to the dispelling of a popular belief.
“I was most interested in the find, and I think it is undoubtedly the egg of a moa,” Dr. Clark told a reporter.
“We have pieces of moa eggs in our Napier Museum, but I believe there are only four complete eggs in New Zealand. It is possible that these pieces can be put together, but it would be a rather hard job, as the shell is in such small pieces.
“With the fossil were found the remains of small birds, but the most interesting find of all, in my opinion, was the discovery of portions of a gourd, which plant was introduced to New Zealand by the Maoris [sic],” he added.
“If that gourd were deposited at the locality at the same time as the moa egg, it indicates, contrary to common belief, that the moas were not extinct before the advent of the Maoris [sic].”
An article on moa in the Hawke's Bay Tribune in 1936. Image / Papers Past
Another authority says that the finding of a moa’s egg is extremely rare, though fragments of shells are found fairly frequently.
There are stated to be not more than ten complete specimens known, and these are all in museums.
Two moa eggs, found with skeletons of moas, were presented to the Auckland Museum about three years ago.
In December, 1931, a complete egg was presented to the Alexander Museum, Wanganui, by Mrs. A. E. Clutterbuck, Waitotara.
This was found by a party of men working on a cliff-face of shell-rock on the Tokomaru West road.
A hollow in the rock was uncovered by blasting operations, and lying in it was the egg.
Unfortunately a workman broke it; with his shovel, but Mr. H. Drew, o§ Wanganui, skilfully repaired the smashed portions, and the work was so wel| done that the joins are not noticeable.
One perfect egg which was found was 27 inches in circumference and a number seven hat was too small to make an egg-cup for it.
Nowhere else on earth can another truly wingless bird be found.
A giant leg-bone only was Professor Owen’s key to its complete description, even to the hairy covering.
His ideas of the bird’s appearance were proved true in every detail by later discoveries.
But at the time his friends tried to prevent the publication, of the professor’s descriptions, thinking that the world would confirm their belief that he had gone mad.
At present in the possession of Mr. A. C. M. Sicely, of Marton, a moa’s egg was found at the foot of a very old slip by a survey party engaged on railway deviation work near Turakina.
The egg is said to be in a splendid state of preservation, and apart from a small hole is intact.
The egg is 8½ inches long and 5½ inches through at its widest point, and is slightly bigger than the egg discovered recently in Hawke’s Bay which was 6½ inches long.
