I.— MISCELLANEOUS. 



[CONTINUED.] 



Art. LXII. — On the. Korotangi, or Stone Bird. 



By Major Wilson. 

 Communicated by Edward Tregear, F.K.G.S. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Societi/, 17th November, 



1887.*] 



This paper has been promised for so long that we were at 

 last facetiously asked "when the Korotangi would sing." We 

 make no excuse for the lengthened silence, but beg to offer an 

 apology therefor. 



The Korotangi is the name given to a stone bird said by the 

 Maoris to have been brought from Hawaiki by them in their 

 canoe Tainui. The bird ineasures lOJin. from point of beak 

 to tip of tail. The right half of the tail is broken, a circum- 

 stance not mentioned by the late Sir Julius von Haast in his 

 paper on this subject.! The weight of the bird is 41b. lOoz. 



We give the scientific description of the Korotangi from the 

 said paper. 



" It is carved," Sir Julius writes, "out of a very dark green 

 serpentine, according to a calculation made by Mr. G. Gray, of 

 ii specific gravity of 2-531 at 60° Fahr., which is about the 

 mean of a series of this mineral, of which the specific gravity 

 has been ascertained by other mineralogists. The bird, carved 

 in a bold and careful way and in a natural position, seems to 

 represent at first glance a species of Prion, the beak being so 

 very much depressed ; but on closer examination it will be seen 

 that it does not possess the united nasal tubes placed on the 

 top of the bill, but has the nostrils lateral near the base of the 

 beak, as in the ducks ; but it is very possible that it might be 

 only a conventional form. 



* The printing of this paper was delayed, with the consent of the 

 author, for the reasons stated in the Proceedings of the Wellington Philo- 

 sophical Society, 31st July, 1889 (post). 



t "Trans. N.Z. Inst," vol. xiv., p. 104. 



