4 Tr ansae tions . — Zoo logy . 



with the ' equiUbrium of nature ' ' brought about by the ferrets 

 so thoughtlessly introduced by a too impulsive Government 

 some years ago. 



" The specimen now in the Museum belongs to Mr. Ross, 

 brother of the guide of that name. It appears that Eoss was 

 walking along the shore of Lake Te Anau, accompanied by 

 his dog, which suddenly disappeared into the bush, and 

 reappeared carrying the Takahe. Mr. Eoss, fortunately for 

 science, despatched the bird to Dr. Young, of Invercargill, 

 who wired to me to inquire whether I could recommend a 

 taxidermist who could be trusted to preserve the bird with all 

 the tender care merited by its rarity and interest. The 

 Museum luckily possesses, in the person of Mr. E. Jennings, 

 laot only a skilful taxidermist, but an ornithologist who can 

 value a bird for its own sake. So I replied to Dr. Young to 

 send it along ; and I announced the receipt of his telegram 

 to the meeting of the Otago Institute on the 9th August, 

 where the news was received with very great interest. Mr. 

 Hamilton took the trouble to travel to Invercargill next 

 day in order to bring back the bird, and to learn the facts 

 of the capture ; but in the meantime it had been despatched 

 to Dunedin, and reached me in capital condition. It was at 

 once handed over to Mr. Jennings. The skin was properly 

 and skilfully cured, so much of the skeleton as was possible 

 was removed and dried, and the viscera are preserved in spirit. 

 Mr. Jennings, it may be mentioned, preserved the Dresden 

 skin, so far as it was possible to do so after its unskilful treat- 

 ment by the captor. 



" But, although the skin of the Takahe is very rare, its 

 bones are less rare and less expensive. The Otago Museum is 

 fortunate enough to possess a nearly complete skeleton, in- 

 cluding the only skull on public exhibitioia in the colony, or 

 anywhere else indeed, except London and Dresden. Other 

 bones exist in private collections, but they are by no means 

 numerous. Another feature of interest lies in the fact that the 

 Takahe {Notornis) exists nowhere else in the world except in 

 the South Island of New Zealand. The name Notornis mantelli 

 was bestowed by the late naturalist, Sir Eichard Owen, on a 

 few bones discovered in a fossilised condition in the North 

 Island — viz., a part of a skull, a jaw, and a leg-bone. The 

 examination of the skeleton of the second bird, subsequently 

 captured in the South Island, led ornithologists to conclude 

 that both the living and the extinct bird belong to the same 

 species. But later on careful measurements of the bones 

 in the Dresden Museum by Dr. A. B. Meyer, and of the 

 bones in the Otago Museum by the late Professor Parker, 

 as well as of bones obtained by Mr. Hamilton, render this 

 identity very doubtful. Dr. Meyer has, as a i-esult of his 



