BuiiLER. — Ori the Ornithology of Neiv Zealand. 5 



measurements, given the name Notornis hochstetteri to the 

 living bird, and we shall probably be light in accepting this 

 revision of the name. It may be that the fossil bones, 

 imperfect as they were, belonged to a male bird, whilst the 

 remaining specimens are females, but this is extremely im- 

 probable. At present we do not know for certain whether 

 there is any difference in the colouration or in the size of 

 the two sexes ; one in the British Museum, according to 

 Sir W. Buller, is more brightly coloured than the Dresden 

 specimen, which he believes to be a female. But no ana- 

 tomical examination of any of the previously obtained birds 

 was possible for the purpose of deciding the sex, and the 

 only definite fact is that this fourth specimen is a female, 

 and that it agrees in size and colouration with the Dresden 

 specimen. From analogy with our other native birds it is 

 quite probable that a difl'erent species of Notornis inhabited 

 each of the two Islands — that of the North Island is 

 extinct, that of the South Island will become so shortly." 



As an indication of the interest which this fresh capture of 

 Notornis has excited, I may mention that numerous offers 

 have been made to the owner for its purchase, for various sums 

 up to £300. I understand that the Government is now nego- 

 tiating for it, at a lower figure ; but whether successful or not 

 we must all join in the hope expressed by Mr. Fenwick that it 

 will be kept in the colony, either in one of our public museums 

 or in some private collection where it will always be access- 

 ible to those of our rising colonists who take an interest in the 

 natural history of New Zealand. Mr. Hamilton, the Regis- 

 trar of the Otago University, has kindly forwarded me an ex- 

 cellent photograph of the bird, as mounted, which I have much 

 pleasure in exhibiting this evening. (See Plate I.) 



This reference to the rare Notornis naturally leads me to 

 say a few words about our other vanishing forms of bird-life. 

 And here, parenthetically, I may observe that perhaps I owe 

 some sort of apology to the Society for so often dilating on this 

 subject. But to me it is one of absorbing interest, and I have 

 always in my mind Professor Newton's prophetic words. In 

 the "Encyclopedia Britannica " (p. 742) he says: "As a 

 whole, the avifaoUna of New Zealand must be regarded as one 

 of the most interesting and instructive in the world, and the 

 inevitable doom which is awaiting its surviving members can- 

 not but excite a lively interest in the minds of all ornitholo- 

 gists." In another place he urges "the importance of the 

 closest study, because the avifauna is now being fast obliter- 

 ated by colonisation and other agencies, and with it will pass 

 into oblivion, unless faithfully recorded by the present genera- 

 tion, a page of the world's history full of scientific interest." 

 In his last publication, the "Dictionary of Birds" — a book 



