102 Fossil and Recent Birds of New Zealand. 
Art. XV.—WNotice of the discovery by Walter MAntell, Fisq., of 
Wellington, in the Middle Island of New Zealand, of a living 
specimen of Norornis, a bird of the Rail Family, allied to 
Brachypteryx, and hitherto known to naturalists only by its 
fossil remains. (Ina letter from Dr. Manreit to the Senior 
Editor. ) 
Tam sure you will be gratified to learn that the perseverance of 
; my son, Mr. Walter Mantell, now of New Zealand, has been re- 
=... warded by the discovery of a living specimen of a genus of Ral- 
= lida, of which, crania with the humerus, sternum, and: other parts 
_ of the skeleton, were found by him associated with remains of the 
colossal Moas, in the sand deposits near Waingongoro, on the west- 
ern shores of the North Island. The fossil bird was referred by 
Professor Owen to a new genus, which he named Notornis, 
(Southern bird), with the specific title Mantelli, in commemora- 
tion of the discoverer, (see Zoological Transactions, vol. iii.) Now 
there was a traditional story rife among the natives, that contem- _ 
poraneously with the gigantic birds, (Dinornis, Palapteryx,) there 
existed several small birds of various kinds; and a species of 
-Swamp-hen was particularized as having been abundant down to — 
a late period, but was supposed to have been long extinct, its ex- 
termination being attributed to the wild cats and dogs, which at 
the present time are a pest to the colonists, destroying the young 
_ poultry and other domestic birds, as well as the indigenous species. 
his rail was said to be of the size of a small turkey, of a black 
color, without wings, with red beak and legs: no specimen had 
been seen or heard of since the English colonized the Island. 
’ ‘The South Islanders called the bird “ Takahé,” the North Is- 
landers “ Moho.” On a second visit to the southern parts of — 
the Middle Island, my son obtained from. some sealers a fine ex- 
ample of the supposed extinct Notornis. It appears that these 
* tion Island, and caught alive. It screamed loudly and fought and 
a 
ak 
