192 



" The amount of interest which attaches to the present remarkable bird is perhaps greater 

 than that which pertains to any other with which I am acquainted, inasmuch as it is one of the 

 few remaining species of those singular forms which inhabited that supposed remnant of a former 

 continent — New Zealand, and which have been so ably and so learnedly described, from their 

 semifossilized remains, by Professor Owen ; who, as well as the scientific world in general, cannot 

 fail to be highly gratified by the discovery of a recent example of a form previously known to us 

 solely from a few osteological fragments, and which, but for this fortunate discovery, would in all 

 probability, like the Dodo, have shortly become all but traditional. AVhile we congratulate our- 

 selves upon the preservation of the skin, we must all deeply regret the loss of the bones, any one 

 of which would have been in the highest degree valuable for the sake of comparison with the 

 numerous remains which have been sent home from New Zealand. 



" Upon a cursory view of this bird it might be mistaken for a gigantic kind of Porphyrio ; 

 but on an examination of its structure it will be found to be generically distinct. It is allied to 

 Porphyrio in the form of its bill and in its general colouring, and to Tribonyx in the structure of 

 its feet, while in the feebleness of its wings and the structure of its tail it differs from both. 

 From personal observation of the habits of Tribonyx and Porphyrio, I may venture to affirm that 

 the habits and economy of the present bird more closely resemble those of the former than those 

 of the latter ; that it is doubtless of a recluse and extremely shy disposition ; that being deprived, 

 by the feeble structure of its wing, of the power of flight, it is compelled to depend upon its 

 swiftness of foot for the means of evading its natural enemies ; and that, as is the case with 

 Tribonyx, a person may be in its vicinity for weeks without ever catching a glimpse of it. From 

 the thickness of its plumage and the great length of its back-feathers, we may infer that it affects 

 low and humid situations, marshes, the banks of rivers, and the coverts of dripping ferns, so 

 abundant in its native country : like Porphyrio, it doubtless enjoys the power of swimming, but 

 would seem, from the structure of its legs, to be more terrestrial in its habits than the members 

 of that genus. I have carefully compared the bill of this example with that figured by Professor 

 Owen under the name of Notornis mantelli, and have little doubt that they are referable to one 

 and the same species ; and as we are now in possession of materials whence to obtain complete 

 generic characters, I hasten to give the following details, in addition to those supplied by Professor 



Owen I cannot conclude these remarks without bearing testimony to the very great 



importance of the results which have attended the researches of Mr. Walter Mantell in the various 

 departments of science to which he has turned the attention of his cultivated, intelligent, and 

 inquiring mind, nor without expressing a hope that he may yet be enabled to obtain some par- 

 ticulars as to the history of this and the other remarkable birds of the country in which he is 

 resident." 



Mr. Mantell was fortunate enough to secure a second specimen of the Notornis ; and these 

 examples, the only two known, having been carefully mounted by Mr. Bartlett, now stand side by 

 side in the National Collection of Great Britain, and, like the remains of the Dodo in the adjoin- 

 ing case, daily attract the attention of thousands of eager visitors ! 



Although no examples of the Notornis have since been obtained, it does not necessarily follow 

 that the species is absolutely extinct. The recluse habits of such a bird, as already pointed out 

 by Mr. Gould, would account for its hitherto escaping notice in the only partially explored por- 



