233 Zoological Society, 



and other naturalists procured the first rehcs of the gigantic birds, 

 sent by those gentlemen to England, which are figured and described 

 in the * Zoological Transactions.' 



This so-called tertiary deposit is situated in a little bay south of 

 Island Point, near the embouchure of the river Waikonaiti, and is 

 only visible at low-water, when bones more or less perfect are occa- 

 sionally observable projecting from the waterworn surface of the bog. 

 This deposit is about 3 feet in depth and not more than 100 yards 

 in length ; the extent inland is concealed by vegetation and a cover- 

 ing of superficial detritus, and is supposed to be very inconsiderable. 

 This bed rests upon a blue tertiary clay that emerges here and there 

 along that part of the coast, and which abounds in shells and corals, 

 of species existing in the adjacent sea. 



This bone deposit was evidently a morass or swamp, on which the 

 New Zealand flax {Phormium, tenax) once grew luxuriantly. Bones 

 of the larger species of Moa have from time to time been obtained 

 from this spot by the natives and European visitors ; and, as in the 

 menaccanite sand beds at Waingongoro, they are associated with bones 

 of one species of dog and two species of seal : my son also collected 

 crania and other remains of a species of Apteryx (probably Ap. Au- 

 stralis), Albatros, Penguin, and of some smaller birds whose cha- 

 racters and relations have not yet been ascertained : no bones of the 

 Notornis were observed in this locality. 



It was from this ancient morass that my son obtained the entire 

 series of bones composing the pair of i^tt of the same individual Di- 

 nornis rohustus, standing erect, the one about a yard in advance of 

 the other, as if the unfortunate bird had sunk in the slough, and unable 

 to extricate itself had perished on the spot. The upper or proximal 

 ends of the tarso-metatarsals were alone visible above the sod on the 

 retiring of the tide ; these were carefully dug round, and the pha- 

 langes exposed in their natural order and connection : the bones were 

 numbered as they w^ere extracted from the soil, and thus the normal 

 elements of the locomotive organs of one of the colossal struthious 

 bipeds of New Zealand were for the first time determined *. 



It was in the course of last year, on the occasion of my son's 

 second visit to the south of the Middle Island, that he had the good 

 fortune to secure the recent Notornis which I have now the pleasure 

 of submitting to this Society, having previously placed it in the hands 

 of the eminent ornithologist Mr. Gould to figure and describe, as a 

 tribute of respect for his indefatigable labours in this department of 

 Natural History. 



This bird was taken by some sealers who were pursuing their avo- 

 cations in Dusky Bay. Perceiving the trail of a large and unknown 

 bird on the snow with which the ground was then covered, they fol- 

 lowed the foot-prints till they obtained a sight of the Notornis, which 

 their dogs instantly pursued, and after a long chase caught alive in 

 the gully of a sound behind Resolution Island. It ran with great 



* The principal dimensions of these bones are given in the Quarterly Journal of 

 the Geological Society, vol. vi. p. 338 ; and figures with descriptions in ' The Pic- 

 torial Atlas of Organic Remains,' just published. 



