190 



om 



Notornis 



I cannot better describe this 



interesting ornithological event than by quoting Dr. Mantell's announcement of it in his address 

 to the Zoological Society on the 12th of November, 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^ Sec, there 

 were the skull, beaks, humerus, sternum, and other parts of the skeleton of a large bird of the 

 Eail family, which, from their peculiar characters, were referred by that eminent anatomist to a 



Notornis 



* 



■a prevision 



the correctness of which is confirmed by the recent specimen that forms the subject of the present 



communication. 



Walter Mantell 



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 Waingongoro, the locality 

 whence the former collection was chiefly obtained ; and among them were relics of the Notornis, 

 and crania and mandibles of Pala;pteryx. 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 subjectf . The only fact that relates to the present notice is the nature of the bone-bed 

 at Waikouaiti, 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 de- 



scribed 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 Waikouaiti, and is only visible at low 

 water, when bones more or less perfect are occasionally observable projecting from the water- 

 worn surface of the bog. This deposit is about 3 feet in depth and not more than 100 yards in 

 length ; the extent inland is concealed by vegetation and a covering of superficial detritus, and is 

 supposed to be very inconsiderable. This bed rests upon a blue tertiary clay that emerges here 

 and there along that part of the coast, and which abounds in shells and corals, of species existing 

 in the adjacent sea. This bone-deposit was evidently a morass or swamp, on which the New 

 Zealand flax [Phormium tenax) once grew luxuriantly. Bones of the larger species of Moa have 

 from time to time been obtained from this spot by the natives and European visitors ; and, as in 

 the menaccanite sand-beds at Waingongoro, they are associated with bones of one species of dog 

 and two species of seal. My son also collected crania and other remains of a species of Apteryx 

 (probably Ap. australis), Albatros, Penguin, and of some smaller birds, whose characters and 

 relations have not yet been fully ascertained : no bones of the Notornis were observed in this 



locality It was in the course of last year, on the occasion of my son's second visit to 



the south of the Middle Island, that he had the good fortune to secure the recent Notornis which 



* Zoological Transactions, vol. iii. p. 366. 



t Geological Journal^ vol. iv. 



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