Moa Sightings, a book in three volumes, gives an account of moa sighting claims in New Zealand. Each volume is hardback, in colour, with 448 pages, page size 240 X 170 mm, thickness 35 mm, and has a jacket and case wrap. Weight per volume 1.38 kg.

Comment from the forward by Denis Dutton, Professor of Philosophy, University of Canterbury, New Zealand: “This invaluable book … provides a broad and systematic historical backdrop for individual claims to have sighted living moa. However misguided or illusory moa-sighting claims may be, Bruce Spittle has done an authentic service to scholarship.”

The back cover blurb also notes: “Hunting pressure, habitat destruction, and introduced predators led to moa extinction by A.D. 1650 according to the previously held serial overkill model. In the currently accepted rapid “blitzkrieg” model, all the moas were gone by A.D. 1450, over 300 years before the first Europeans landed with Captain Cook in 1769. However a number of moa sighting claims have been made since 1769 and the author offers for consideration a staggered survival model in which moas lingered on until a later date in some remote, isolated areas. The available circumstantial evidence for a few moas remaining after 1769 is presented including reports suggesting survival in circa 1810 by Kawana Paipai, 1845 by Burr Osburn, 1863 by Patrick Caples, circa 1825–1875 by HJ Cuttance, and 1878 by Sir George Grey.

The author, Bruce Spittle, is of part-Maori descent and lives in Dunedin, New Zealand.

A sample chapter, the introductory chapter, is available at: Chapter 1.

The price for each volume is NZ$70. The price for the three volumes is NZ$210. Please add the cost of packing and shipping: New Zealand $4 a volume, Australia $8 a volume, USA and Canada $20 a volume, UK, France, and other countries $25 a volume. Payment can be made to B Spittle by:

1. PayPal. Pay to spittle@es.co.nz. PayPal allows payment by Visa or Mastercard directly to an E-mail address in a secure way. It is necessary to first register with PayPal at http://paypal.com. The recipient E-mail address is spittle@es.co.nz

2. Personal cheque to B Spittle. Post to: B Spittle, 727 Brighton Road, Ocean View, Dunedin 9035, New Zealand. Cheque clearance takes one week for NZ cheques and about one month for overseas cheques. Personal cheques in US$, Euros, Australian $, Canadian $, New Zealand$, and £ are fine. The equivalent amount in NZ$ can be calculated using the Universal Currency Convertor at: http://www.xe.com/ucc/

3. Direct debit payments in New Zealand from a New Zealand bank. Pay to 03–0883–0158628–00. Westpac, Dunedin North Branch. Account name: BJ & MJ Spittle.

4. Bank transfer payments from an overseas bank. Please instruct the initiating bank to send the money directly to: Westpac Banking Corporation, Wellington, New Zealand. The SWIFT code for Westpac New Zealand is WPACNZ2W. The account name and full account number of the account to receive the funds must be included for processing. Account name: BJ & MJ Spittle. Account number: 03–0883–0158628–00. Westpac, Dunedin North Branch.

Bruce Spittle E-mail 22 January 2010

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