3804 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
On this occasion I was fortunate enough to catch a passing 
view of it, although in the uncertain starlight I could only make 
out its general outline. It must be remembered that it was only 
in sight a few seconds; but the impression it left upon my mind 
at the time was that its colour was very dark, and its height 
about that of a full-grown Turkey. An important fact to be 
noted here is that, although I got within a few feet of it, the 
bird made no attempt to fly, but ran away very swiftly, and 
without making any sound or cry of alarm. There can be little 
doubt that with a sharp dog I could easily have caught it; but, 
unfortunately, we had no dog attached to our camp at this time. 
Seven years now elapsed before the Notornis again came 
under my observation. At the beginning of this year I visited 
Dusky Sound for the purpose of examining the mineral deposits 
discovered there by Mr. William Docherty, the well-known 
prospector. On the day after my arrival—the 5th of January— 
I accompanied Docherty to his pyrrhotine lode on the lower 
slopes of Mount Hodge, situated about a mile from the beach. 
Shortly after commencing the steep ascent we heard the deep 
booming call of a bird, which I at once recognized as similar to 
that of the strange bird I had heard in the Matukituki Valley in 
1881. After listening for a while I expressed my belief that this 
was the Notornis. Docherty, however, stoutly denied this, 
stating that he had often heard the same sound, which was what 
he called in his own words “a voleanic noise in the bowels of 
the earth.” Without stopping to argue the point, I pressed 
along, hoping to see the bird, which appeared to be somewhere 
onour path. The ascent at this point was very steep, our track 
being along the right bank of a precipitous rocky stream. Ina 
few minutes we got so close to the bird that there could be no 
doubt whatever as to the organic origin, so to speak, of the 
sound, which seemed to proceed from the crop of the bird. I 
now told Docherty to keep quiet for a little, and he would soon 
see the cause of the booming, at which he became very excited, 
and shouted loudly that nothing would convince him it was not 
a ‘ voleanic noise.” I need hardly state that we heard nothing 
more of this bird that day. 
On returning to the hut in the evening my field-hand informed 
me that when he was fishing off the point close by he had heard 
a Takahe in the bush, in the direction in which I had been 
