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beak — a great equilateral triangle of hard pinkish horn-colour, with one angle directed forwards. 

 At the upper side of the base of the beak is a bright red band of soft tissue like an attempt at a 

 1 comb,' such as we get in cocks, only transversely placed. The whole is a handsome bird of heavy 

 gait, absolutely unable to use its wings for their natural purpose of flying. Indeed, one of the 

 interests, zoologically, is that, like several of our native birds, it is flightless, while its congeners in 

 other countries are endued with powers of flight. The Takahe is closely allied to the Pukeko 

 (Porphyrio), and not far removed from the Brown Wood-hen (Ocydromus), all these belonging 

 to the family of Bails, which usually frequent more or less marshy ground, and in other countries 

 are able to fly as well as other birds. On the other hand, the Takahe can run very actively, 

 and gave a good chase to those who captured the earlier specimens, while its powerful beak 

 must be a formidable weapon, one would think, which it could use with effect on enemies when at 

 close quarters. The nature of its food is practically unknown. The previous specimens did not 

 reach scientific hands till after the removal of the viscera; the present specimen, however, reached 

 me in such excellent condition that I have been able to examine all the internal organs, and I find 

 the stomach and intestines filled with a kind of grass with cylindrical leaves, all cut up into 

 lengths of \ in. to \ in. But whether this is its normal food or not, is uncertain. Like its 

 predecessors, it was caught in winter on low-lying grounds near the water ; but there is no doubt 

 that it lives usually in the higher and rougher bush, and that it was probably driven down to the 

 water's edge by stress of weather and the consequent difficulty of getting enough to eat. Certain 

 it is that, though thoroughly healthy in every way, there was no fat in the body such as one finds 

 in a normally well-fed bird ; moreover, its beak seems needlessly powerful for cutting up grass. 



" The present specimen is a young female, possibly not quite fully grown. The measurements 

 of the various external parts of the body agree almost exactly with those given by Sir W. Buller 

 for the bird examined by him nearly twenty years ago. Yes ; it is nineteen years since the 

 previous specimen was captured, and — pace Mr. Park — it is uncertain whether any have even been 

 seen since 1879 ; at any rate, I believe there is no record of such a fact. Even a greater length of 

 time separates the capture of the third from the first specimen — to wit, thirty years — for it was in 

 1849 that the first specimen ever seen by scientific folk was chased and captured by a party 

 of sealers in Duck Cove, Dusky Sound. Of this the skin alone remains, stuffed and set up in the 

 British Museum; the rest of the bird was eaten by the captors. The" second specimen, which was 

 caught in 1851 by Maoris on Secretary Island, Thompson's Sound, also found its way to the 

 British Museum. The third specimen was caught by a rabbiter's dog (1879) on the eastern shore 

 of Lake Te Anau, and its remains were purchased for the Dresden Museum for one hundred 

 guineas. The three spots at which the captures were made are at the corners of a triangle, each 

 side of which measures about a hundred miles. It is scarcely surprising, then, that this, the 

 fourth specimen of the bird, now temporarily deposited in the Otago University Museum, should 

 be the cause of some excitement amongst all those — and these are happily many — who take 

 an interest in the birds of New Zealand, especially in those which, like the Takahe and the 

 Kakapo, are on the way to extermination — a result of the interference with the ' equilibrium 

 of nature ' brought about by the ferrets so thoughtlessly introduced by a too impulsive Govern- 

 ment some years ago. 



" The specimen now in the Museum belongs to Mr. Koss, brother of the guide of that name. 

 It appears that Boss was walking along the shore of Lake Te Anau, accompanied by his 

 dog, which suddenly disappeared into the bush, and reappeared carrying the Takahe. Mr. Boss, 

 fortunately for science, despatched the bird to Dr. Young, of Invercargill, who wired to me 

 to inquire whether I could recommend a taxidermist who could be trusted to preserve the 

 bird with all the tender care merited by its rarity and interest. The Museum luckily possesses, 

 in the person of Mr. E. Jennings, not only a skilful taxidermist, but an ornithologist who 



