196 THE ANIMALS OF NEW ZEALAND 



his homeward route, and at Wellington, the bird was a great 

 novelty and excited much interest. 



"I may add," Dr. Mantell says, in a paper he read before the 

 Zoological Society on November 12th, 1850, "that upon 

 comparing the head of the bird with the fossil cranium and 

 mandibles, and the figures and descriptions in the Zoological 

 Transactions, my son was at once convinced of their identity ; and 

 so delighted was he by the discovery of a living example of one 

 of the supposed extinct contemporaries of the moa that he 

 immediately wrote to me, and mentioned that the skull and beak 

 were alike in the recent and fossil specimens, and that the 

 abbreviated and feeble development of the wings, both in their 

 bones and plumage, Avere in perfect accordance with the indica- 

 tions afforded by the fossil humerus and sternum found by him 

 at "Waingongoro, and now in the British Museum." Shortly 

 afterwards a second specimen was caught by some Maoris on 

 Secretary Island. This also was obtained by Mr. Mantell, and 

 both were sent to the British ^Museum, where they remain. 



Thirty years passed, and nothing further was seen or heard of 

 the Notornis. The general belief was that the bird had really 

 become quite extiuct, and value was added to the specimens 

 secured. 



But in 1879 the skin and skeleton of a bird caught on the Te 

 Anau Downs, between the ]\Iararoa and Upokororo Rivers, by 

 some men while on a rabliiting expedition, were reported. They 

 were sent to Dunedin, forwarded to England, and sold to the 

 Dresden IMuseum for £110. The specimen attracted a great deal 

 of interest in Europe, and was the subject of papers read before 

 the Zoological Society in London l)y Sir R. Owen and Professor 

 Newton. 



The fourth specimen was caught by ]\Iessrs. D. and J. Ross, also 

 at Lake Te Anau, in 1898. On August Ttli. while lying awake in 

 their bunks, they heard a bird-call that struck them as being 

 luiusual. It came from the bush near the edge of the lake, and 

 about a hundred yards from their camp. They thought that the 

 sound was not unlike a double call which is often made by the 

 Californian quail, but w^as not so sharp and clear. In the 



