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V. Notice of the Discovery by Mr. WatterR Manteuu in the Middle Island of New 
Zealand, of a Living Specimen of the Notornts, a Bird of the Rail Family, allied to 
Brachypteryx, and hitherto unknown to Naturalists except in a Fossil State. By 
Gipron Atcernon Manrett, Hsq., 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 Rallide 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 Palapteryz. 
The results of my son’s observations on the geological phenomena 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 relics 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 
1 Zoological Transactions, vol. ii. p. 366. 2 Geological Journal, vol. iv. 
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