72 



" For my own part, I am most anxious that we should escape the reproach of posterity 

 by doing everything in our power to preserve, if not a few living representatives, at any rate 

 a full life-history of these expiring forms; so I try to make my voice heard, in season and 

 out of season, hoping thereby to stimulate others to do the same. I am induced to believe 

 that, in the interests of science, I am pursuing the right course. For example, a returned 

 colonist writes to me : ' At Cambridge I met the genial old Professor Newton, who told me 

 that your sketches of vanishing native birds were the most charming he had ever read.' I 

 naturally argue thus : that, if the subject possesses so much attraction for readers at a dis- 

 tance, I shall not weary my readers at home by reverting, on every opportunity, to this favourite 

 theme. The great thing is to awaken public interest. And, if I may venture to say so, the sub- 

 ject is yours as much as mine, for it must be borne in mind that an implied duty rests on all 

 the members of such a Society as this to contribute their quota to the general stock of 

 human knowledge, and to aid — each one according to his opportunity and ability — in the 

 promotion of such objects as the one I am discussing. It is refreshing to find, in these 

 more enlightened days, that even from the pulpit this moral obligation is enforced, and with 

 no uncertain voice. As an illustration of this, I may remind you of the eloquent sermon 

 preached by the Bishop of Salisbury in St. Paul's Cathedral on the occasion of his visit to 

 Wellington some time ago. Passing out of the beaten track, his Lordship referred to the 

 interesting problems in science that awaited their solution in New Zealand, mentioning 

 specially the abnormal features in the fauna and flora. He said, he hoped that in the City 

 of Wellington — the centre of activity for the colony — there would be found men of leisure 

 who would ' consecrate their lives ' to the elucidation of these problems in natural science. 

 He put in, too, a pathetic appeal for the beautiful virgin forest, and expressed an earnest hope 

 that the hand of the destroyer would spare some portions of this magnificent bush, with its 

 unique forms, and pass them down for the delight and study of future generations." 



Professor Benham communicated to the Zoological Society of London a very valuable paper 

 on the internal anatomy of Notornis, founded on an examination of the last captured specimen 

 CProo. Zool. Soc.,' 1899, pp. 88-96).* He likewise wrote ('Trans. N. Z. Inst.,' vol. xxx., p. 147) : 

 " The colouration and measurements of the present specimen agree very closely with the 

 account given by Sir Walter Buller, but the bird is rather smaller in all its dimensions ; and as 

 this specimen is a young female, the eggs of which do not exceed J in. in diameter, we have 

 every reason to believe that Buller's suggestion that the Dresden specimen was a female is 

 correct. One of the skins in the British Museum is brighter in colouration and larger in size, 

 and he presumes it to be that of the male bird, whilst the second British Museum specimen is 

 also probably a female." 



The capture of this fourth specimen of Notornis proved, according to the newspapers, 

 one of the small sensations of the " silly season " in London, when Parliament is not 

 sitting, and news is supposed to be scarce. One writer in The Times, weaving a web of 

 romance around the occurrence, at long intervals, of "lingering representatives of a race 

 which was co-existent with the mighty Moa," indulges in the hope that some day a pair 

 of these birds may be captured alive and brought to Europe. Then other letters followed; 

 and this correspondence brought to the front a Mr. E. W. Yaux, a former New Zealand 

 resident, who averred that the Notornis was by no means so rare as was generally supposed, 



* Professor Benham, in his interesting and valuable paper on this last example of Notornis (I. c, p. 147), 

 observes : " I may say that the plate representing Notornis in the new edition of ' The Birds ' is not so accurate a 

 representation of the colouring of the bird as the plate in the old edition, although from a lithographic point of view 

 the former is a much better picture." He then, comparing his bird with the plate which was taken from the British 

 Museum specimen, points out what he describes as " inaccuracies of drawing." 



