The Unburnt Egg, page 17
Ship rat, Rattus rattus
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Pictorial Collections, LM001375. 120
Flying frog, Rhacophorus nigropalmatus
Wallace Memorial Fund; drawing by A.R. Wallace, 1855. 138
Brown-tailed copper-striped skink
from Fiji, Emoia cyanura ryanphotographic.com; photograph by Paddy Ryan. 152
Giant fern Angiopteris evecta
Collected by T.F. Cheeseman from gullies behind Arorangi, Rarotonga. Auckland Museum, AK111243. 170
Sea-slug drawing by A.W.B. Powell
Warty sea slug from Native Animals of New Zealand by Baden Powell: Auckland Museum, 1947. 184
Feather-sheet (detail)
Specimen of song thrush Turdus philomelos, Auckland Museum, LB12219; photograph by R. Kho. 198
The 'unburnt egg'
Egg of a Euryapteryx moa from Central Otago. Auckland Museum LB4016; photograph by S. Cooper, circa 2000. 210
Registration numbers
Key specimens relevant to the stories in this book are listed below.
They are held at Auckland Museum unless otherwise indicated.
Henry Ward's articulated human skeleton: LM131
Charles Adams' king penguin: LB587 (skeleton)
Tūī at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.: USNM 109192 (exchanged from Auckland Museum); 257636 (with personalised Adams label)
The unburnt moa egg: LB4016
Tokerau Beach moa eggs: LB4003 (whole); LB4005 (incomplete)
Walter Mantell's eggshell fragments: LB4013 (Taranaki); LB4014 (Ōamaru)
Bust of Richard Owen: M2579
Long-tailed cuckoos: LB8968 (egg removed from the oviduct of E39); LB8981 (E39, preserved as a spread wing)
John McLean's sample of sheep's wool: LM935
Major Buddle's Canton Island rats: LM12-13.
Major Buddle's Canton Island brown booby eggs: LB5309-10, LB13110-1. (Auckland Museum also has Buddle's eggs of two other species of boobies.)
Huia nest: Canterbury Museum, Av2743
Huia egg: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, OR7640
Huia presented to Auckland Museum by Walter Buller, 1881: LB9214
Fossil takahē bones: LB7981
Fossil sea lion bone: LM759 (a well-preserved humerus that makes a good example).
Hen and Chickens Islands rats: LM9, LM31-32
Bush wren skins: LB4683-4
Charles McCann's giant flying frogs: LH3271-2
Brown skink from Sia Ko Kafoa, Tonga (paratype of Emoia mokolahi): LH1312
Rarotonga starlings: LB3716-9
Brown skink from Rarotonga (paratype of Emoia tuitarere): LH1869
Further reading
The Book of the Huia, W.J. Phillipps: Whitcombe and Tombs, Christchurch, 1963.
Canton Island, Robert Cushman Murphy, Alfred M. Bailey and Robert J. Niedrach: Denver Museum of Natural History, Denver, 1954.
"A catalogue of moa eggs (Aves: Dinornithiformes)", B.J. Gill: Records of the Auckland Museum, volume 43, 2006.
"Charles Francis Adams: Diary of a young American taxidermist visiting New Zealand, 1884-1887", B.J. Gill: Archives of Natural History 41: Edinburgh University Press, 2014.
"Deep secrets: Discovering New Zealand's tropical past", Trevor Worthy, Jenny Jones and Thomas Simpson: New Zealand Geographic 107, 2011. [Covers fossil birds at St Bathans, Central Otago.]
Extinct Birds of New Zealand, Alan Tennyson and Paul Martinson: Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006.
Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds, David W. Steadman: University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2006.
"The fall of reason in the west", R. Koch and C. Smith: New Scientist 2557, 2006. [On the philosophy of science.]
"From treasure to tragedy—the sad tale of Blanche Halcombe", S. Hoskin: http://pukeariki.com
"Giants of science: Three statues with New Zealand connections", Richard Wolfe: Art New Zealand 152, 2014-15. [Includes Richard Owen's bronze statue.]
"History of Walter Buller's collections of New Zealand birds", J.A. Bartle and Alan Tennyson: Tuhinga 20: Records of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2009.
"How humans dared to know", A.C. Grayling: New Scientist 2666, 2008. [On the philosophy of science.]
Lands of Sun and Spice, Ian Turbott: Fast Books, Sydney, 1996. [Turbott's account of his postings in the Pacific.]
"The legacy of Big South Cape Island", Don Merton: Forest and Bird 313, 2004
The Lost World of the Moa: Prehistoric Life of New Zealand, Trevor H. Worthy and Richard N. Holdaway: Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2002.
"Mantell, Walter Baldock Durrant: 1820-1895. Public servant, politician, naturalist", M.P.K. Sorrenson. In The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Volume 1, 1769-1869, W.H. Oliver (ed.): Allen & Unwin, Wellington, 1990.
"Natural obsessions: The Blanche Halcombe collection", Andrew Moffat. In Flashback: Tales and Treasures of Taranaki, Andrew Moffat (ed.): Huia Publishers, Wellington, 2012.
Richard Owen: Victorian Naturalist, Nicolaas A. Rupke: Yale University Press, New Haven, 1994.
Walter Buller: The Reluctant Conservationist, Ross Galbreath: Government Printing Office, Wellington, 1989.
Working for Wildlife: A History of the New Zealand Wildlife Service, Ross Galbreath: Bridget Williams Books in association with the Historical Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1993. [Covers early transfers of rare birds to safe islands.]
Other sources
Introduction
"Historic DNA reveals contemporary population structure results from anthropogenic effects, not pre-fragmentation patterns", Lisa N. Tracy and Ian G. Jamieson: Conservation Genetics 12:2, 2011. [DNA study of yellowheads.]
Secrets of the shining cuckoo
"Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea Expedition. 19, Notes on the bronze cuckoo Chalcites lucidus and its subspecies", Ernst Mayr: American Museum Novitates 520, 1932.
"The migration of the New Zealand bronze cuckoo, Chalcites lucidus lucidus (Gmelin)", H. Barraclough Fell: Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand 76, 1946-47.
The unburnt egg
"Description and conservation of a probable moa's egg (Aves: Dinornithiformes)", B.J. Gill, and S. Cooper: Records of the Auckland Museum 38, 2001.
"Scrambling for eggs", Bruce Ansley: New Zealand Listener, August 20, 1990. [Covers Canterbury Museum's broken moa egg.]
Flight of the long-tailed cuckoo
"Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea Expedition. 34, The distribution and the migration of the long-tailed cuckoo (Urodynamis taitensis Sparrman)", Cardine Bogert: American Museum Novitates 933, 1937.
"Piecing together the epic transoceanic migration of the long-tailed cuckoo (Eudynamys taitensis): an analysis of museum and sighting records", B.J. Gill and Mark E. Hauber: Emu 112, 2012.
Booby eggs and a solar eclipse
"History, present status, and future prospects of avian eggshell collections in North America", Lloyd Kiff: The Auk 122, 2005.
Song of the huia
"Anatomy of head and neck in the huia (Heteralocha acutirostris) with comparative notes on other Callaeidae", Philip John Kennedy Burton: Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Zoology 27, 1974.
"The molecular ecology of the extinct New Zealand huia", David M. Lambert et al.: PLoS ONE 4(11), 2009.
"Notes on Port Nicholson and the natives in 1839", Charles Heaphy: Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 12, 1880.
Seals in sand dunes
"Extinction and recolonization of coastal megafauna following human arrival in New Zealand", C.J. Collins et al.: Proceedings of the Royal Society (Series B) 281: 20140097, 2014. [DNA study of New Zealand sea lions.]
Ship rats of Big South Cape Island
"The Big South Cape Islands rat irruption", B.D. Bell. In The Ecology and Control of Rodents in New Zealand Nature Reserves, Paul Richard Dingwall, I.A.E. Atkinson, C. Hay: New Zealand Department of Lands & Survey, 1978.
"A high-resolution chronology of rapid forest transitions following Polynesian arrival in New Zealand", David B. McWethy, Janet M. Wilmhurst, Cathy Whitlock, Jamie R. Wood and Matt S. McGlone: PLoS ONE 9(11), 2014. [Evidence for early Māori forest clearances.]
"The legacy of Big South Cape: rat irruption to rat eradication", Elizabeth A. Bell, Brian D. Bell, Don V. Merton: New Zealand Journal of Ecology 40, 2016.
"Prehistoric predation of the landsnail Placostylus ambagiosus Suter (Stylommatophora: Bulimulidae), and evidence for the timing of establishment of rats in northernmost New Zealand", F.J. Brook: Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 30, 2000.
Acknowledgements
Museums seem to attract some of the nicest people. I thank all the staff at Auckland Museum, and colleagues in wider museum circles, for their kindness and friendliness to me, at a personal level, during thirty years. Wendy Pond helped me over many years with discussions of natural history, Pacific islands and the art of writing, and I am also grateful to Ian Mason for putting me on the trail of the Ellis family in connection with J.C. McLean's egg collection. For helpful comments on drafts of specific sections I thank Fred Brook, Nigel Prickett and Heather Rogers.
I thank the Auckland Museum library staff for the library services that supported all my research. I am grateful for Auckland Museum's C.H. Worth Memorial Fund which covered the cost of my field trip to Wallis and Futuna. My recent trips to examine specimens at New Zealand and overseas museums received funding from Auckland Museum, from the bequest of the late Mrs Dora Blackie and from Dr Mark Hauber's research grants.
I thank a reader for pointing out an error in my earlier book of museum stories, The Owl that Fell from the Sky. On page 71 I stated that Robert Schufeldt, who published a study of the bones of a species of New Zealand parrot, drowned in the Ohio River. It was his son of the same name who drowned (in 1892). His father lived until 1934.
I am grateful to my publisher Awa Press for its efforts and high standards in producing this book: Mary Varnham worked wonders to improve my text and Emma Wolff sought out and organised the illustrations. We all thank Auckland Museum, especially Jane Legget, Jason Froggatt and Tom Trnski, for supporting the publication of this book in various ways.
Index
Note: bold numbers denote illustrations.
A
Adams, Charles (C.F.) 15, 16, 17-21, 22-25, 26-27
Adventuring in Coral Seas (Ellis) 83
Albert Park 19
Allo, Jan 188
American Museum of Natural History (New York) 69-70, 71
Apia 90, 165-166
archaeology 54, 56-57, 106, 115, 185, 188
see also fossils; palaeontology
Archey, Gilbert 6-7, 187-188
Atkins, Henry J. see Dalton, George
Auckland Art Gallery 213-214
Auckland Domain 1
Auckland Islands 118, 119
Auckland Museum vi, 17, 48, 63, 87, 90, 91, 93, 196
cataloguing 5, 53, 78, 85, 146, 171, 182
collections 6, 10, 11, 48, 73, 80, 103-104, 109, 117, 119, 121, 126-127, 128, 129, 141, 143, 149-151, 153, 155, 159, 171, 199, 201-202, 206
displays 50-51, 62, 109, 129
early years 4, 15-16, 20, 21, 23, 26-27, 54, 101
funding 4-5
library 60, 63, 70, 146, 173, 188-189
Princes Street premises viii, 4, 15-16, 20
Records of the Auckland Museum 44, 90, 146, 185-186, 187-190, 193-194, 195
see also individual staff members
Auckland Star (newspaper) 23
Auckland War Memorial Museum see Auckland Museum
Australia 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 80, 82, 90, 97, 98, 110, 111, 122
Avarua (Tonga) 175, 177, 179, 180, 181
Averill, Archbishop Alfred 63
B
Baily, Edward 63
Bartlett, Adam 59
Barton, Gerry 188
Beck, Rollo 35
Bell, Brian 133
Big South Cape Island 131-133
BioScience (journal) vii
bird eggs 64, 78-83, 85, 88, 96, 204-205
see also under moa
bird migration 31, 33-34, 35-39, 68, 69-70, 71-73
Bird Secrets (Buddle) 85
bird translocation 133-134
birds see bird eggs; bird migration; bird translocation; extinction; ornithology; predation; individual bird species and titles of works
Birds of Aotearoa: A Natural and Cultural History (Orbell) 67-68
Birds of Australia, The (Gould) 98
black rats see ship rats
black stilts 123
Blatter, Father Ethelbert 144, 148
blue-wattled crows see kōkako Bogert, Cardine 69-70, 71
Bogle, Hugh 93
Bombay 140-141, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147
Bombay Natural History Society 140-141, 143, 145, 146
bones see archaeology; fossils; osteology; osteometry; palaeontology boobies 89
brown 88
masked 76, 83, 88, 89
red-footed 88-89
British Museum (Natural History) see Natural History Museum (London)
Brook, Fred 114, 116
brown rats see Norway rats Buddle, Geoffrey 77-78, 80, 84-85, 86, 87-91
Buffon Declaration 216
Buller, Walter 22, 23, 59, 82, 100-101, 102, 103
Burton, Philip 95
bush wrens see New Zealand wrens
C
Cabanis, Jean 97
Campbell, Archibald 82
Canterbury Museum 51, 96, 102
Canton Island 86, 87, 89-91
Cappel, Leo 50
cataloguing of specimens 5, 8, 9, 11-12, 16, 21-22, 35, 38, 41-42, 53, 54, 78, 85, 116, 142-143, 145-147, 149, 171, 182
Chapple, David 140
Cheeseman, Thomas 8, 9, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22-24, 26, 101, 171-173, 179-180, 182
Chemical History of a Candle, The (Faraday) 190
Clansman (ship) 25, 48
Colonial Museum (Wellington) 20
common myna 65, 99, 166, 182, 201
Comte de Buffon see Leclerc, Georges-Louis
Conservation Genetics (journal) 12
Cook Islands 171-182
Cook, Captain James 32, 69, 96, 125, 142, 156, 195, 214
Cooper, Sue 43-44
Cranwell, Lucy 187
creationism 215
Cross, Shane 127
cuckoos see long-tailed cuckoos; shining cuckoos
D
Dalton, George 23
Darwin, Charles 3, 61, 62, 69
Davidson, Janet 188
Dawkins, Richard 215
Department of Conservation (DOC) 12, 65, 114, 127
see also Wildlife Service (New Zealand)
Dieffenbach, Ernst 69, 98
dinosaurs 62, 124, 128
Dominion Museum (Wellington) 139-140
Dominion Post, The (newspaper) 105
Duggan, Eileen 30, 39
Duke of York (later King George V) 99
E
Ellis, Albert 83
Endeavour (ship) 125
Enlightenment, the 68, 212, 214 'Eua (Tonga) 154, 155-156
European settlement (of New Zealand) 83, 95, 96
exploration 98-99
impact on wildlife 100, 103, 104-105, 106, 113, 125-126
interaction with Māori 55, 67-68, 98, 99
evolution 35, 66, 69, 107, 110, 121-122, 123, 124, 127-128, 133, 137, 215
extinction 54, 94, 106-107, 113, 128-129
bush wrens 131, 133
huia 93, 98-100, 102-103, 104-106,
moa 42, 45, 57-58
piopio 21
F
Faraday, Michael 190
Fell, Barry 34
flax snails 116
flesh-footed shearwaters 25
Forster, Georg 32
Forster, Johann 32
fossils 41, 54, 104, 106-107, 108, 109, 111-114, 115, 116, 117-118, 123, 128, 129-130
see also archaeology; palaeontology
Froggatt, Jason 145-146, 149, 151
frogs 138, 150-151, 209
G
gannets 81, 83, 89
geckos 139-140, 141, 155-156, 178, 202-203
General Synopsis of Birds, A (Latham) 32
genetics 12, 103, 113, 118-119, 130, 163
giant ferns 170
giant flying frogs 150-151
Gill, Brian 10, 79, 139, 213-214
Auckland Museum, working at 17-18, 21-22, 29, 30-31, 33, 41, 42-45, 50, 53, 55-57, 65-67, 70, 74, 80-81, 93, 127, 128, 145-146, 149-151, 171, 199-209
childhood 79, 102
early career 1-2, 4-8, 17, 171
research trips 16, 36-38, 60-62, 70-71, 116-117, 117-118, 153-169, 172, 173-182, 189
Gmelin, Johann 32
Gondwana 111, 122-123, 130
Gould, John 97, 98
Grant-Mackie, Jack 42
Gray, George 69
Griffin, Louis 48-49
Guthrie-Smith, Herbert 77
H
Halcombe, Blanche 41, 44, 45-48
Halcombe, Norman 46-47
Ham (London) 60-61
Hayward, Bruce 188
Heaphy, Charles 98
Hector, James 20
hemipenes 143-144
Hen and Chicken Islands 121, 126
herpetology 139-144, 145-151, 199-200
see also geckos; lizards; skinks; snakes
Hill, Henry 57
Hinemoa (ship) 85, 101
History of the Birds of New Zealand, A (Buller) 22-23, 100-101
Hoffman, John 16, 18
Holdsworth, Charles 81
Holocene Epoch 45, 104, 106-107, 109, 112, 113-114, 118, 123, 129-130
Hooker's sea lions see New Zealand sea lions
hornets 147-148
Horrocks, Mark 45
How to Watch a Bird (Braunias) 85
huia 92, 93-100, 102-105, 106, 107, 113
Huynen, Leon 45
I
India 140-141, 144, 147-148
Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 140-141, 143, 145, 146
wildlife 141, 143, 148, 149-151
J
James, Helen 106-107
Jamieson, Ian 12
Johnston, Maree 201
Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 143, 146
K
Kaikoura 29, 30–31
