46 



For years attempts have been made to pi'ocure a specimen of this mysterious 

 unknown, which will probably be found to belong to the families either of 

 Strix or Podargus ; it is to be hoped it may not turn out to be the man- 

 liking bird thus mentioned by Fuller, " I have read of .a bird which hath a 

 face like, and yet will prey upon, a man, who coming to the water to drink, 

 and finding there, by reflection, that he had killed one like himself, pineth 

 away by degrees, and never afterward enjoyeth itself." 



Already some of our rural settlers attach significance to the peculiar 

 flight and cries of birds, as prognosticating changes in the weather, thus fol- 

 lowing' out in their new home the like fancies or observations which have been 

 handed down by their fathers from time immemorial ; on this subject Cuvier 

 wrote, " For the rest of their intellectual qualities, their rapid passage through 

 the different regions of the air, and the lively and continued action of this 

 element upon them, enables them to anticipate the variations oftlie atmosjihere, 

 in a manner of which we have no idea, and from which, has been attributed 

 to them from all antiquity, by superstition, the power of announcing future 

 events." 



Embryological research as far as our birds are concerned is still a sealed 

 book. This is a branch of science upon the importance of which Agassiz lays 

 much stress ; after speaking of the information he had acquired from the 

 examination of bird embryos, he writes, " How very interesting it will be to 

 continue this investigation among the tropical birds ! — to see whether, for 

 instance, the Toucan, with its gigantic bill, has, at a certain age, a bill like 

 that of all other birds ; whether the Spoonbill Ibis has, at the same age, nothing 

 characteristic in the shape of its bill. No living naturalist could now tell you 

 one word about all this." Investigations of this nature amongst the several 

 genera peculiar to New Zealand, would be of value to science, and would offer 

 an interesting field for new discoveries concerning ornithological facts, in our 

 bright corner of the world, which the scientific naturalist has not yet found 

 time or opportunity to lay bare. 



Accuracy of description is so necessary to establish facts, that it is far 

 preferable to give a few brief notes, the result of actual observation, rather 

 than to supply pages of information gathered from hearsay ; even in our 

 humble researches, the untrustworthy character of report generally, has been 

 experienced sufficiently often, to impart a certain amount of incredulity not 

 easily shaken off; mythic treasures have so frequently eluded pursuit, when 

 the scene has been reached that should have disclosed specimens of more than 

 ordinary interest, that no difficulty is felt in understanding how often fable 

 creeps in, and becomes, in a measure, blended with truth in matters relating to 

 Natural History. 



On the other hand it is far from safe to discard even the improbable, as 

 imperfect description has before now conveited the improbable into the 

 apparently impossible, as a very early notice of the Hornbill will testify. * 



* In 1330, Odoric tells of a bird as big as a goose, with two heads. In 1672, P. Vin- 

 cenzo Maria describes a bird, also as big as a goose, but with two beaks, the two being 

 perfectly distinct, one going up and the other down ; with the upper one he crows or 

 croaks, with the lower he feeds, etc. — Viaggio, p. 401. 



In 1798, Padre Paolino, who is usually more accurate, retrogrades ; for he calls the 

 bird "as big as an Ostrich." According to him, this bird, living on high mountains 

 where water is scarce, has the second beak as a reservoir for a supply of that element. 

 He says the Portuguese call it Passaro di duos bicos. — Viag., p. 153. 



Lastly, Lietit. Charles White describes the same bird in the Asiatic Researches. " It 

 has a large double beak, or a large beak surmounted by a horndike shaped mandible. " — 

 Asiatic Res., iv., 401. The bird is a Hornbill, of which there are various species having 

 casques or protuberances on the top of the bill, the office of which does not appear to 

 be ascertained. How easy here to call Odoric a liar ! but how unjust, when the matter 

 has been explained. — Cathay and the way thither, Vol. i., p. 100. 



