Order GLALL^.] 



[Fam. RALLIDJE. 



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NOTOENIS MANTELLI. 



(MANTELL'S NOTORNIS.) 





Notornts mmitell% Owen, Tr. Zool, Soc. iii. p. 377, pi. Ivi. figs. 7-13 (1848) 



Native names. 



Moho, Takahe, and Tokohea 



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Ad» supra viridis : pileo et coUo undique cum corpore subtus toto nigricantibus, ultramarino nitentibus : tectri- 



cibus alarum cyanescentibus viridi lavatis : remigibus nigris, primariis extus cseruleo marginatis, secun- 

 dariis intimis dorso concoloribus : cauda suprk viridi dorso concolori : subcaudalibus albis : rostro Isete 

 rubrOj versus apicem flavicante : pedibus pallide rubris : iride rubra. 



Adult male. Head and throat bluish blacky passing into dark purplish blue on the hind neck; the whole 

 of the back, rump, upper tail-coverts, lesser wing-coverts, and scapulars dull olive-green, tipped 

 more or less with verditer green, and of a darker shade towards the shoulders; fore neck, breast, 

 sides of the body, and flanks beautiful purplish blue; a band of the same colour, half an inch 

 wide, separates the dark blue of the nape from the olive-green of the upper surface; thighs, abdomen, 

 and vent bluish black; under tail-coverts white; wing-feathers rich deep blue on their outer webs, 

 dusky brown margined with blue on their inner ; the greater coverts with broad terminal margins of 

 verditer-green, forming crescentic bands in the expanded wings ; tail-feathers dark olive-green, with 

 brown shafts, dark brown on their under surface. The plumage of the back and rump is soft and thick, 

 and on being disturbed is found to be dull greyish brown towards the base. Irides red ; frontal plate 

 and bill bright red, yellowish towards the tips of both mandibles ; tarsi and toes lighter red ; claws 

 horn-brown. Total length 24 inches; wing, from flexure, 9*75; tail 4*5; from posterior edge of 

 frontal plate to tip of upper mandible 3*25; from gape of the mouth, along the edge of lower 

 mandible, 2; tarsus 3*25 ; middle toe and claw 3*75 ; hind toe and claw 1*7. 



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Female, A second specimen in the British Museum, which is supposed to be a female, is somewhat smaller 

 than the above in all its dimensions, has the colours generally duller, and the olive-green of the upper 

 narts shaded with brown. 



The name of Walter Mantell will ever be associated with the palseontology of the Postpliocene and 



«4. 





masmificent 



Wealden formation of the south-east of Engla: 

 le Moa beds of Waikouaiti and Waingongoro 



Mantell) 



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posited in the British Museum. The value to science of these discoveries is amply demonstrated 

 in Professor Owen's elaborate ' Memoirs ' on Dinornis and its allies, read before the Zoological 



Mr. Mantell 



Society from time to time, and published in the ' Transactions.' 



tributed largely to our knowledge of the geology and palseontology of the country ; but he has 



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