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and that, " when in New Zealand in 1885, he knew a man (Docherty) who lived by himself 

 in Dusky Sound for many years, and also others who had camped there, and was told that 

 they had often heard the peculiar cry of the Takahe; in fact, to use the words of one, 'it 

 could be heard every night.' " 



This story of Docherty 's facilities for collecting Notornis at one time gained currency 

 in the colony and, knowing that the man was doing nothing, I wrote giving him an order 

 for a pair of skins, for which I offered to pay £200, but stipulating that, if he undertook 

 the hunt, he was only to be paid by results. In reply he wrote to me saying that he could 

 not incur the risk of failure unless he had a sum of money paid down, to be accounted for 

 if he got the birds. It may be gathered from this how much truth there was in' his story of 

 hearing its cry every night ! 



At the same time I have no doubt, in my own mind, that the bird still exists — and 

 possibly in considerable numbers — in the swampy region which it inhabits, much of which 

 is, as yet, unexplored. 



Mr. Eussell, junior, of Invercargill, solicitor, assured me, in 1890, that one had been seen 

 on the edge of the Hauroto Lake, near Te Anau, skulking in the low vegetation. It came 

 down to the water's edge and then quietly walked away. 



The last specimen procured was a young female, and the ovary contained a bunch of 

 undeveloped eggs, all tending to show the perpetuation of the race. 



The importance of our having secured this further example of Notornis, for careful 

 anatomical examination, cannot be over-estimated, seeing that — although a species* once 

 existed in Norfolk Island and on Lord Howe Island — one may safely conclude that no member 

 of the genus is now to be found in any other part of the world. 



Anything relating to this bird possesses now exceptional interest. It is curious to find 



* In the ' Ibis ' for 1866 (p. 159), the editor, Professor Newton, writing of this bird, says : " We only know of 

 two specimens still existing, one at Vienna, obtained from the Leverian Museum, the other in the Derby Museum, 

 at Liverpool, from Bullock's collection. It would be very interesting to know if the bird is still found on either of the 

 islands named, and we trust our ornithological friends at the Antipodes will endeavour to ascertain the fact. It is the 

 Gallinula alba of Latham." 



The bird figured by Von Pelzeln, as now preserved in Vienna, is undoubtedly a true Notornis. 



Mr. Salvin writes (' Ibis,' 1873, p. 295) : " In a former number of the ' Ibis ' for the current year (antea, p. 45) 

 I referred to a plate which I was having prepared from a coloured drawing sent to me by Herr Von Pelzeln of 

 the typical specimen of the Fulica alba of White. This plate (PL X.) is now given herewith. On comparing the 

 coloured drawing with the specimens in the British Museum, it appeared evident that the bird in the Imperial Cabinet 

 at Vienna must belong to Notornis. The short wings and the short toes, as well as the outline of the beak, indicated 

 clearly a far greater generic affinity with Notornis than with Porphyrio." 



In a letter on 'Lord Howe Island' (P.Z.S., 1869, p. 471), Br. G. Bennett says that an adult Gallinule figured in 

 Philipp's ' Voyage to Botany Bay,' and found only in Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island, is now presumably extinct, 

 not having been seen recently on either of these islands. (See also Etheridge's Eeport, Aus. Mus. Mem. ii., pp. 10-11.) 



Dr. Eamsay, in his ' Notes on the Zoology of Lord Howe Island ' (Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., 1883, p. 86), writes that 

 this bird "appears to have been first mentioned by Callam in 1783, and afterwards in Philipp's ' Voyage to Botany Bay,' 

 1789, p. 160, and again, under the name of Gallinula alba, by White, in his ' Voyage to New South Wales,' 1790, p. 238." 

 And he adds : " During the last three years I have made every exertion, through the settlers on the island, to ascertain if 

 this bird still exists there, but without effect. On one occasion ' Eed Bills ' were represented to me by Captain Armstrong 

 as having been seen on the hillside but, on my correspondent sending there, nothing was heard or seen of them. The 

 only other large land-bird known, and which still exists on the island, is the ' Wood-hen,' Ocydromus sylvestris, of 

 which I have recently seen specimens, but this species also is becoming extinct, being easily captured or killed." 



Dr. Forbes kindly showed me the specimen in the Liverpool Museum, and it is without doubt an albino Porphyrio 

 melanonotus (not a Notornis) showing vestiges of the normal plumage. 



Mr. Dawson Rowley, in his Ornithological Miscellany, vol. i., p. 37, properly distinguishes this bird from Notornis, 

 but treats it as a distinct species, under the name of Porphyrio stanleyi. 



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