[ 73 ] 



VI. Remarks on Notornis Mantellii. By J. Gould, F.R.S. 

 Read November 12, 1850. 



Dr. MANTELL having kindly placed his son's valuable acquisition in my hands for 

 the purpose of characterizing it in the Proceedings of the Society, and of afterwards 

 figuring and describing it in the appendix to my work on the ' Birds of Australia,' 1 

 beg leave to commence the pleasing task he has assigned to me. 



The amount of interest which attaches to the present remarkable bird is perhaps 

 greater than that which pertains to any other with which I am acquainted, inasmuch 

 as it is one of the few remaining species of those singular forms which inhabited that 

 supposed remnant of a former continent — New Zealand, and which have been so ably 

 and so learnedly described, from their semi-fossilized remains, by Professor Owen ; who, 

 as well as the scientific world in general, cannot fail to be highly gratified by the dis- 

 covery of a recent example of a form previously known to us solely from a few osteolo- 

 gical fragments, and which, but for this fortunate discovery, would in all probability, 

 like the Dodo, have shortly become all but traditional. While we congratulate our- 

 selves upon the preservation of the skin, we must all deeply regret the loss of the bones, 

 any one of which would have been in the highest degree valuable for the sake of com- 

 parison with the numerous remains which have been sent home from New Zealand. 



Upon a cursory view of this bird it might be mistaken for a gigantic kind of Por- 

 phyrio, but on an examination of its structure it will be found to be generically distinct. 

 It is allied to Porphyria in the form of its bill and in its general colouring, and to Tri- 

 honyx in the structure of its feet, while in the feebleness of its wings and the structure 

 of its tail it differs from both. 



From personal observation of the habits of Tribonyx and Porphyrio, I may venture to 

 affirm that the habits and oeconomy of the present bird more closely resemble those of 

 the former than those of the latter ; that it is doubtless of a recluse and extremely shy 

 disposition ; that being deprived, by the feeble structure of its wing, of the power of 

 flight, it is compelled to depend upon its swiftness of foot for the means of evading its 

 natural enemies ; and that, as is the case with Tribonyx, a person may be in its vicinity 

 for weeks without ever catching a glimpse of it. 



From the thickness of its plumage and the great length of its back-feathers, we may 

 infer that it affects low and humid situations, marshes, the banks of rivers, and the 

 coverts of dripping ferns, so abundant in its native country : like Porphyrio, it doubt- 

 less enjoys the power of swimming, but would seem, from the structure of its legs, to 

 be more terrestrial in its habits than the members of that genus. 



I have carefully compared the bill of this example with that figured by Professor 



