On 28 Mar 2001, at 13:47, Alison Ashwell wrote:

> Quentin Grady wrote: The point being stealth and guile replaced a >
> lot of senseless running about chasing things to eat as some would >
> have us believe was the nature of h-g.
>
> I think it is due the image of hunter that has grown up - the
> "running pell-mell after the big deer" mystique rather than the idea
> of lying on a river bank tickling trout or catching flat fish by
> copying wading birds - you just need patience and bare hands and a
> little bit of practice .
>
>
> Alison
>
Thank you Alison,

   New Zealand had no mammals to hunt.   The first h-g did hunt the
moa a large flightless bird that they hunted into extinction.  It is
thought by some that these early h-g had quite an impact on the
environment with their use of fire to drive moa to destruction.

Most of the hunting for birds, eels etc was by stealth and what
seems to us incredible ingenuity.   Use was also made of seasonal
migrations to catch shark and fish called kahawai.   Coastal villages
made extensive communal nets of quite staggering proportions from
flax.


Quentin Grady