186 Transactions, — Zoology. 



fatigable energy a great part of the collection was personally 

 brought together. This collection of bones indicates that, 

 besides the moas, a host of smaller birds have dropped out 

 of the race, and remained with the years that are behind. The 

 cause of the disappearance of so many species, to all appearance 

 equally fitted to succeed in the struggle against extermination 

 with many of those that have survived and are now with us, 

 is still to seek. 



The author in this paper describes twelve species new to 

 the ancient bird-life of New Zealand. The list is headed by 

 two harriers, i.e., Circus hamiltoni and Circus teauteensis, two 

 raptorial birds much larger than the present New Zealand 

 harrier {Circus goiildi) without approaching in size or power 

 the gigantic Harpagornis. From the swamps and caves of 

 both Islands, bones referable to the genus Notornis, to which 

 the apparently extinct takahe belongs, are not infrequent. 

 The Notornis mantelli was founded in 1848 by Professor Owen 

 on the skull of the bird ; and in a later paper in the Trans- 

 actions of the Zoological Society of London, vol. iv., part i., 

 he describes and illustrates on pi. ii., fig. 4, a tibia of this 

 bird, of which the length is given as Tin. 10 lines. On 

 examining this figure carefully, the author has come to the 

 conclusion that some mistake must have occurred, as the bone 

 figured does certainly not present the characteristics of a 

 Ealline tibia, especially in the outline and position of its 

 cnemial crests and in the form of its fibular ridge. It more 

 closely represents a swan's leg-bone. The question of the 

 determination of the species of Notornis to which the bones 

 now being discussed by the author belong depends on the 

 correctness of Sir Eichard Owen's determination of the tibia 

 he has figured. On comparing the description with the figure 

 of the bone there seems no discrepancy, so far as the figure 

 allows one to judge ; consequently, if he was describing a non- 

 Ealline bone the descriptions and the dimensions given will not 

 fit a Notornis tibia. Perhaps, however, the error may have 

 been committed by the artist through inaccurate delineation, 

 or by his drawing the tibia of some other bird instead of the 

 rail's, when the dimensions of the Notornis tibia in the text 

 must be accepted as correct. The only other record of the 

 dimensions of a Notornis tibia that the author has access to is 

 that quoted by Sir Walter Buller in his "History of New 

 Zealand Birds," who gives (vol. ii., p. 93) the length of this 

 bone, in a second skeleton acquired by the Otago Museum, as 

 6|in. The bones under description in the present paper 

 consist of four tibiae and three femora. Of the former, the 

 larger measures 7'18in. as compared with Owen's 7'83in., 

 while, of the remaining three, two measure 6-35in. as com- 

 pared with the Otago Museum specimen, which is 6-25in. in 



