74 MR. J. GOULD ON NOTORNIS MANTELLII. 



Owen under the name of Notornis Mantellii, and have little doubt that they are refer- 

 able to one and the same species ; and as we are now in possession of materials whence 

 to obtain complete generic characters, I hasten to give the following details, in addition 

 to those supphed by Professor Owen : — 



Bill somewhat shorter than the head ; greatly compressed on the sides, both man- 

 dibles being much deeper than broad ; tomia sharp, curving downwards, inclining 

 inwards and slightly serrated ; culmen elevated, much arched and rising on the forehead 

 to a line with the posterior angle of the eye : nostrils round, and placed in a depression near 

 the base of the bill ; wings very short, rounded, and slightly concave ; primaries soft and 

 yielding ; the first short ; third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh equal and the longest ; 

 tail-feathers soft, yielding, and loose in texture ; tarsi powerful, longer than the toes, 

 almost cylindrical ; very broad anteriorly ; defended in front and on either side poste- 

 riorly by broad and distinct scutellse ; the spaces between the scutellae reticulated ; 

 anterior toes large and strong, armed with powerful hooked nails, and strongly scutel- 

 lated on their upper surface ; hind-toe short, strong, placed somewhat high on the 

 tarsus, and armed with a blunt hooked nail. 



Head, neck, breast, upper part of the abdomen and flanks purplish blue ; back, rump, 

 upper tail-coverts, lesser wing-coverts and tertiaries dark olive-green, tipped with 

 verditer-green ; at the nape of the neck a band of rich blue separating the purplish blue 

 of the neck from the green of the body ; wings rich deep blue, the greater coverts tipped 

 with verditer-green, forming crescentic bands when the wing is expanded ; tail dark 

 green ; lower part of the abdomen, vent and thighs dull bluish black ; under tail-coverts 

 white ; bill and feet red. 



Total length of the body, 26 inches ; bill, from the gape to the tip, 2^; from the tip 

 to the posterior edge of the plate on the forehead, 3 ; wing, 8^ ; tail, 3^ ; tarsi, 3^ ; 

 middle toe, 3 ; nail, f ; hind-toe, | ; nail, f . 



I cannot conclude these remarks without bearing testimony to the very great im- 

 portance of the results which have attended the researches of Mr. Walter Mantell in 

 the various departments of science to which he has turned the attention of his cultivated, 

 intelligent and inquiring mind, nor without expressing a hope that he may yet be 

 enabled to obtain some particulars as to the history of this and the other remarkable 

 birds of the country in which he is resident. 



