51 



which is a broad scooped area, and terminal rostrum; there are also present a pair of very great lateral notches, 

 and exterior broad bony processes on each side .... 



In the skeleton of Ocydromus used for comparison the cervicals were fourteen, dorsals eight freely- 

 separated vertebrae, fourteeen more or less coalesced lumbosacral, and eleven caudal vertebral bodies, all free 

 and movable on each other. The entire spinal column and its related parts show a delicacy of mould, and this 

 is very notable in the tail-elements, which organ, be it remarked, has in the Bail tribe only short soft feathers 

 clothing it. There are ten ribs, seven of which are very long, and all are attenuate bony rods; six have mid- 

 costal processes. The last cervical and first ilio-sacral vertebra have each a pair of short free ribs. The chest 

 cavity is unusually deep and narrow, as contradistinguished from that of the doubtful hybrid or that of the 

 common fowl. 



From the foregoing data it will readily be conceded that in all the exterior as well as interior organization 

 of the bird under examination scant ground is left for support of its being a hybrid between the fowl and Weka 

 Bail. Assuming no detailed anatomical investigation had been undertaken, the impression nevertheless might 

 remain with those who saw the creature alive, and were acquainted with its currently reported history, that its 

 habits — so opposed to those of the ordinary fowl of the farmyard — could only have been those of a hybrid bird. 

 It behoves, then, to account for these assumed peculiarities of manner ; and in the fact that the bird had 

 adopted feral instincts and habits a clue is given to read the case aright. 



Darwin, after referring to Wallace's views, says : ' Nevertheless I do not doubt that the simple fact of 

 animals and plants becoming feral does cause some tendency to reversion to the primitive state ; though this 

 tendency has been much exaggerated by some authors.' He also admits 'that with crossed animals a similar 

 tendency to the recovery of lost characters holds good even with instincts.' 



That a healthy and robust chicken, reared under primitive condititions and in the proximity of a forest or 

 waste lands, should forsake its more domesticated companions, and prefer to lead a free and roving life, 

 accords with the above savant's teachings. It needs no stretch of the imagination, then, to conceive how the 

 reputed semi-nocturnal Bail-like habit is associated with no other than a return to that of the wild stock. 

 The occasional visit to the poultry-yard towards nightfall may have been partly in search of food, but, 

 doubtless, also due to sexual manifestations, for a knowledge of the presence of its kindred in the neighbour- 

 hood would be an intuition easily acquired. Much of the averred shyness and timidity may be attributed to 

 the bird's forest seclusion and fear of man. Its skulking, stealthy gait (so characteristic of the Wekas and 

 allied Rallidce) when in quest of food denoted that ever- watchful care for its safety inherent and necessary to 

 wild birds continually on the alert for hidden enemies. 



The diminutive drooping tail, much relied on as a ralline feature, is at best weak evidence of hybridity, 

 nor specially favours reversion to feral habit. It, like the plumose, hairy, or flocculent feathering thought to 

 be so extraordinary by the New Zealand observers, rather represents what is characteristic of certain breeds 

 of fowl ; while the grass-eating proclivity (witness Cochin-fowl habit) may not only be referred to breed, but 

 with greater probability forced upon the bird by scarcity of graniferous diet. That this reputed hybrid, but 

 nevertheless undoubted fowl, was of mixed derivative origin is denoted by its external characters, superadded 

 to by points in its osteological construction. 



I have mentioned in my account of this species that three is generally the maximum number 

 of eggs in the nest; but Mr. Guthrie- Smith, of Napier, writes me that on one occasion he found a 

 nest near the Tutira homestead containing five eggs. 



