APTERYX MAXIMA, Verr. 



Apteryx maxima, Verreanx, Bp. Compt. Rend. Acad. Sc. xliii. p. 841. 



In 'The Ibis,' 1862, vol. iv. p. 104, Mr. J. Haast speaks thus :— " On the 

 summits of Papahaua the tracks in the snow showed me that the native 

 description of a large Kiwi, like a Turkey, could not be well exaggerated." 



Dr. Buller says, " There is no proof whatever that the bird here 

 described" (viz. Apteryx haastii) "is the same as that for which M. Jules 

 Verreaux proposed the name A. maxima ; on the contrary, the evidence, so 

 far as it goes, would seem to indicate the existence of a much larger species 

 of Kiwi in fact, a bird equalling in size a full-grown Turkey." 



The recent discovery of a really new form leads one to suppose that it 

 is not impossible that another may yet turn up. To this end, which every 

 faunist must approve, I have laboured for some years ; but there is unluckily 

 one significant fact — that, among the various ornithic remains, both recent 

 and fossil, mixed with the bones dug up in 1872 at Moa-bone-Point Cave, 

 Sumner Road, through Dr. Haast's exertions, though Apteryx australis 

 appears, A. maxima, unless overlooked, does not. There are, however, the 

 reports of the natives ; but perhaps these do not stand for much. Then 

 we hear of the foot in the Museum at Wellington, 



If Apteryx maxima is to be found, it must be, I think, on the west coast, 

 either in a fossil or recent state. It may be alive ; if so, of course it will not 

 remain very long. I trust, for the benefit of science, every part of it will be 

 properly made use of— feathers, bones, and flesh. 



