370 Proceedings. 
The papers relative to the first discovery of Moa remains, by the Hon. Mr. 
Mantell and the Rev. Mr. Taylor, support the view of the recent extinction 
of these giant birds which I expressed in my former address; and the 
researches in the Moa cave, at Earnscleugh, by the Hon. Captain Fraser, have 
resulted in the discovery of a sufficient number of bones of that curious genus 
Cnemiornis to enable me to determine its affinity to the Natatores, or duck 
kind, and to restore a skeleton which is now before you.* This discovery adds 
another instance in New Zealand of a non-volant bird with a keelless sternum, 
belonging to an order other members of which are possessed of full power of 
flight. Thus, in addition to the Kiwi and the extinct Moas, which represent 
the Struthionide proper, we have, in the Kakapo (Stringops), a parrot with а 
keelless sternum ; rails without power of flight, in the Votornis a coot, and in 
the Weka (Ocydromus), and also a curious little rail from the Chatham 
Islands; while, going beyond our own country, we have the Dodo of the 
Mauritius, which was a flightless pigeon; and now we have the Cnemiornis, 
which was a large goose-like bird that apparently had neither power of flight 
nor of swimming. The loss of the power of flight from disuse, and the 
corresponding change in the structure of the bird, do not therefore appear to 
confer a character of such high anatomical importance in systems of classifi- 
cation as has hitherto been. conceded to 16; and, indeed, the observations of 
Professor Cunningham show that in the case of the Steamer Duck (Micropterus), 
which inhabits the seas in the neighbourhood of Tierra del Fuego, the power of 
flight is lost from disuse even during the lifetime of individuals, for, in this 
species, while the adolescent forms have the power of flight, the mature ducks 
are non-volant, the use of their wings being confined solely to propelling the 
bird through the water. 
The additions which have been made to the zoological literature of the colony 
during the past year, include some important works, besides the valuable 
papers which appear in the volume of our transactions ; chief among them is 
Dr. Buller's great work on the Birds of New Zealand. 
It is satisfactory to learn that Dr. Buller's work is to be rendered more 
complete by the publication of additional plates, so as to give figures of 
all these birds; and, as the first edition is now exhausted, we may hope that 
the author will receive encouragement to republish it, and have an opportunity 
of bringing up the information to a still later date. 
* An old native at Hikurangi lately described to me what must have been this bird, 
under the name of T'arepo. He stated that it was not a Moa, but a short bird that made 
like a Putangitangi (Casarca variegata), with very thick legs, and so strong that it 
could ‘‘ upset a man," and that, in his s youth, he had seen one alive. The Moa, he said, 
youth, had killed one. The name Tarepo was erroneously taken for a synonym of Moa 
by the late Rev. R. Taylor, in 1839 (Trans. N.Z. Inst., Vol. V., p. 97) 
