126 PETRIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. II. 



than in the Brachypteryx. There are no styliform appendages, 

 and the median portion of the bone contracts into an obtuse 

 pointed extremity. The coracoid grooves are very shallow ; 

 the costal border has depressions for five sternal ribs. The 

 general form and proportions of this bone are indicative of a 

 bird of the same natural family, but with wings less developed 

 than in Brachypteryx. 



From the osteological characters above stated, it may be 

 inferred that the Notornis was a large modified form of the 

 same natural family of the Grallce as the Porphyrio and Brachy- 

 pteryx ; and from the configuration of the sternum, it must 

 have been, like the latter peculiar bird of New Zealand, with- 

 out the powers of flight. 



DISCOVERY OF A LIVE NOTORNIS. (See Frontispiece .) The 

 soundness of the physiological inferences relating to the 

 structure and habits of the presumed extinct genus of brevi- 

 pennate Kails, whose bones were discovered by Mr. Walter 

 Mantell, with those of the stupendous Moa, in the menaccanite- 

 sands of Waingongoro, has recently been confirmed by very 

 unexpected evidence a specimen of Notornis, captured alive 

 in a remote and unfrequented part of the South Island of 

 New Zealand. The following account of this discovery was 

 laid by the Author before the Zoological Society in November, 

 1850. 



According to the traditions of the Maoris, there formerly 

 existed in the Islands of New Zealand, contemporaneously 

 with the gigantic Moas, several smaller birds of various 

 species; and a kind of Swamp-hen, or water-rail, was par- 

 ticularised as having been abundant, and a favourite article 

 of food with their remote ancestors. This bird was believed 

 to be extinct, and to have been exterminated by the wild cats 

 and dogs, which at the present time are a great pest to the 

 colonists, destroying the young poultry and other domestic 

 birds, as well as the indigenous species. It was known to the 

 North Islanders by the name of Moho, to the natives of the 

 South by that of Takahe ; but not an individual had been seen, 

 or heard of, since the arrival of the English in the country. 



The Rev. Richard Taylor, who has long resided in the 

 Islands, had never seen this bird but in his little work, " A 

 Leaf from the Natural History of New Zealand," under the 

 head of " Moho" there is the following note ; "Mono, Rail : 



