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192 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Art. XXVIII. — Notes on Harpagornis Moorei, an Extinct Gigantic Bird of 



Prey, containing Description of Femur, Ungual Phalanges, and Rib. 



By Julius Haast, Ph.D., F.R.S. 



(With Illustrations.) 



[Read before the PMlosopliical Institute of Canterbury, 3rd May, 1871 .] 



Amongst tlie discoveries made daring the last few years in the turbary deposits 

 of Glenmark, in which the remains of the different extinct gigantic species of 

 Dinornis abound, none can be of greater interest to the student or lover of the 

 natural history of these islands, than the occurrence of bones belonging to a 

 raptorial bird of enormous dimensions, contemporaneous with the Moa. 



During the progress of excavations undertaken in the month of March of 

 this year on the Glenmark property, Mr. F. Fuller, Taxidermist to the Christ- 

 church Museum, found, amongst a considerable quantity of moa bones, mostly 

 belonging to specimens of Dinornis casuarinus, crassus, and didiformis, five 

 to six feet below the surface of the swamp and over a space of about thirty 

 feet squar-e, a few smaller bones in an excellent state of preservation, which he 

 at once correctly referred to a gigantic raptorial bird. 



These remains include a femur, a few ungual phalanges, and one rib, all 

 belonging doubtless to the same individual, and although the discoverer used 

 all possible care and diligence during his subsequent researches, he was unfor- 

 tunately \inable to obtain any other portion of this very interesting species. 



Before proceeding 1 wish to observe that we need not infer, from the 

 absence of the larger species of the Dinornithes in that locality, that they did 

 not exist at the same time, the fact being simply that the bones of larger 

 species, such as Dinornis giganteus and rohustus, are found in this portion of 

 the swamp nearer to the base of the hill, the water-courses, which brought them 

 down from the hill sides, not being powerful enough to move the heavier bones 

 to such distances as the smaller ones. 



In attempting a description of these unique specimens, which, for fear of 

 accident, it would be unwise to send away to be described by a more competent 

 authority, I have only been guided by the wish to make such an interesting 

 fact as the occurrence of a gigantic bird of prey in New Zealand during the 

 Dinornis age more fully known, and I trust, therefore, that any shortcomings 

 will be leniently overlooked. 



Fortunately, I could avail myself of the pencil of our talented honorary 

 secretary, Dr. L. Powell, who has prepared the necessary illustrations for this 

 paper, and thus, if the descriptions are deficient, the faithful drawings will, in 

 many respects, amply make up for such shortcomings. 



