194: THE ANIMALS OP NEW ZEALAND 



bird excites. Only four siDecimeiis have been obtained. Two are 

 in the British Museum, one in the Dresden Museum, and the 

 other in the Dunedin Museum, Otago. 



It is a large, heavy, and flightless rail, with massive bill and 

 legs, a very handsome and striking plumage, and a solemn cast of 

 countenance. The bill and legs, in contrast to the prevailing 

 colours of the plumage, are bright red. Mr. Gould says that it 

 might be mistaken for a gigantic kind of Porphyrio, but that an 

 examination of its structure shows it to be generically distinct. 

 In the form of its bill and general colouring it is allied to 

 Porphyrio. and in the structure of its feet to Tribonyx, a rail 

 which is found in Australia and Tasmania, and which, though 

 it rarely resorts to flight, can run well. In the feebleness of its- 

 wings and the structure of its tail, however, it differs from both. 

 Having personally observed the habits of Tribonyx and 

 Porphyrio, Mr. Gould atflrms th<\{ the hal)its and economy of 

 Notornis more closely resemble those of the former than those 

 of tlie latter. Being deprived by the feeble structure of its^ 

 wings of the power of flight, it is compelled to depend on its 

 swiftness of foot for the means of evading its natural enemies, 

 so that, as with Tribonyx, a very shy bird, a person may be in its- 

 vieinity for weeks without catching a glimpse of it. 



From the thickness of its plumage, and the great length of its-. 

 back feathers, Mr. Gould infers that it affects low and humid 

 situations, marshes, the banks of rivers, and the coverts of 

 dripping ferns, and, like the Porphyrio, doubtless enjoys the 

 power of swimming, but would seem, from the structure of its 

 legs, to be more terrestrial in its habits than the members of that 

 genus. 



The first discovery was made by Mr. W. ]\Iantell. in 18-17. In a 

 bed of volcanic ashes at Waingongoro, in the North Island, he 

 found a number of fossil moa bones, which he sent to 

 Sir Richard Owen. " I detected among them," Sir Richard 

 says, " portions of the skull of a bird about the size 

 of a turkey." The back part of the head was broad and 

 sloping, something like that of the moa, but there were 

 differences that induced him to make an extensive series of 

 comparisons. These brought him ultimately to the family of the 



