Ordek RALLTFORMBS.l 



[Family RALLID^E. 



NOTORNIS MANTELLI. 



(MANTELLI'S NOTORNIS.) 



Notornis mantelli, Owen; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, ii., p. 85.* 



Undoubtedly the most important ornithological event in New Zealand, since the publication of 

 my book, has been the capture of another specimen — only the fourth — during more than half 

 a century, of the Takahe {Notornis mantelli). On hearing that this valuable bird had been 

 sent in the flesh to the Otago Museum, I telegraphed to that institution for additional information 

 and immediately received the following reply from Professor Benham : " Every particle of 

 Notornis preserved ; young female in perfect condition, but coracoids injured." A few days later 

 I received a letter from Mr. George Fenwick, the editor of the Otago Daily Times, containing 

 further particulars. He writes : " I have been very much interested in the recent capture of 

 a Takahe by young Ross — brother of the Te Anau-Milford guide — and had an opportunity this 

 morning of inspecting it. It is a fine specimen, and realises the impression of the bird gathered 

 from the striking illustration in your book. The two specimens in the South Kensington Museum 

 are disappointing — one of them particularly so. The better one of the two cannot compare with 

 the specimen just captured, the plumage of the latter being bright and glossy, whereas that 

 in the South Kensington Museum is dull. Jennings has done his work well, the new Takahe 

 presenting the firm, well-set up, striking look with which we have been made familiar by 

 your illustration. I hope it may be secured for the Colony. I have written to Ross on this 

 point, and if I make any progress will let you know. I am posting you a copy of to-day's 

 Times, with some notes on the bird and the species by Professor Benham." 



The article referred to — in the issue of the 23rd August — gives an interesting, popular 

 account of Notornis and its discovery, from which I quote the following: " In size the bird is like 

 a goose, but in colouration it resembles the Pukeko ; its breast is a beautiful rich dark blue, 

 becoming duller on the neck, head, abdomen, and legs. These last are clothed with feathers for a 

 greater distance than in the Swamp-hen, but they are relatively shorter and much thicker than 

 in the latter bird. The legs in both birds have the scaly part, technically termed ' tarso- 

 metatarsus,' as well as the toes, coloured salmon red. The feathers of the back, wings, and 

 tail are olive green, with an almost metallic lustre, in certain lights ; below the short tail the 

 feathers are pure white. When the bird is seen, from in front, these colours are at their brightest 

 and best ; seen from behind — as when the bird is running away from the hunter — the brightness 

 is lost : the blue becomes dull and nearly black, the green becomes greenish grey, so that, if it were 

 not for the white under tail-coverts, the bird when retreating would be very inconspicuous in the 

 feeble light of the bush. This white tail-piece occurs in the Pukeko, as well as in some mammals, 

 such as the rabbit and deer, but its meaning is not always obvious ; although the general incon- 

 spicuousness to foes is diminished, yet its recognition by friends appears to be attained thereby. 

 The eyes are reddish-brown. But perhaps one of the most noticeable features of the bird is its 



* As already stated (vol. ii., p. 89), Dr. A. B. Meyer, the able Director of the Royal Zoological Museum at Dresden, 

 having critically examined and described the bones of this bird, pronounces it a different species from that the bones of 

 which were described and delineated by Professor Owen {Trans. Zool. Soc, iii., 1848), and he proposes to distinguish it 

 as Notornis hochstetteri ; but, to my mind, the point is not so completely free from doubt as to justify me in setting aside 

 a name so widely known and so generally accepted as Notornis mantelli 



