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V. Notice of the Discovery by Mr. Walter Mantell in the Middle Island of New 

 Zealand, of a Living Specimen of the Notornis, a Bird of the Rail Family, allied to 

 Brachypteryx, and hitherto unknown to Naturalists except in a Fossil State. By 

 Gideon Algernon Mantell, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S. etc. 



Read November 12, 1850. 



Amongst the fossil bones of birds collected by my eldest son in the North Island 

 of New Zealand, which I had the honour of placing before the Zoological Society in 

 1848, in illustration of Professor Owen's description of the crania and mandibles of 

 Dinornis, Palapteryx, &c., there were the skull, beaks, humerus, sternum, and other 

 parts of the skeleton of a large bird of the Rail family, which from their peculiar cha- 

 racters were referred by that eminent anatomist to a distinct genus of Rallidce allied to 

 the Brachypteryx, under the name of Notornis^ ; a prevision, the correctness of which 

 is confirmed by the recent specimen that forms the subject of the present communication. 



Towards the close of last year I received from Mr. Walter Mantell another extensive 

 and highly interesting collection of fossils, minerals, and rock specimens, obtained 

 during his journey along the eastern coast of the Middle Island, from Banks' Peninsula 

 to the south of Otago, in the capacity of Government Commissioner for the settlement 

 of native claims. This series comprised also a fine suite of birds' bones from Wain- 

 gongoro, the locality whence the former collection was chiefly obtained, and among 

 them were relics of the Notornis, and crania and mandibles of Palapteryx. 



The results of my son's observations on the geological phsenomena presented by the 

 eastern coast of the Middle Island are embodied in a paper read before the Geological 

 Society in February last, and published in vol. v. of the ' Quarterly Journal.' It will 

 suffice for my present purpose to mention that they confirm in every essential particular 

 the account given of the position and age of the ornithic ossiferous deposits, in my first 

 memoir on this subject-. 



The only fact that relates to the present notice is the nature of the bone-bed at 

 Waikonaiti, whence Mr. Percy Earl, Dr. Mackellar, and other naturalists procured the 

 first rehcs of the gigantic birds, sent by those gentlemen to England, and which are 

 figured and described in the ' Zoological Transactions.' 



This so-called tertiary deposit is situated in a little bay south of Island Point, near 

 the embouchure of the river Waikonaiti, and is only visible at low-water, when bones 

 more or less perfect are occasionally observable projecting from the water-worn surface 



' Zoological Transactions, vol. iii. p. 3G6. « Geological Journal, vol. iv. 



M 2 



