3004 Zoological Society. 



pursued, and after a long chace, caught alive in the gully of a sound behind Resolu- 

 tion Island. It ran with great speed, and on being captured, uttered loud screams, 

 and fought and struggled violently. It was kept alive three or four days on board the 

 schooner, and then killed, and the body roasted and eaten by the crew, each partaking 

 of the dainty, which was declared to be delicious. The beak and legs were of a bright 

 red colour. My son secured the skin, together with very fine specimens of the Kapapo 

 or ground parrot (Strigops), a pair of Huias (Neomorpha), and two species of Kiwi- 

 kiwi, namely Apteryx Australis and A. Oweni. The latter very rare bird is now added 

 to the collection of the British Museum. Mr. Walter Mantell states, that according 

 to the native traditions, a large rail was contemporary with the Moa, and formed a 

 principal article of food among their ancestors. It was known to the North Islanders 

 by the name of " Moho," and to the South Islanders by that of " Takahe"; but the 

 bird was considered by both natives and Europeans to have been long since extermi- 

 nated by the wild cats and dogs; not an individual having been seen or heard of since 

 the arrival of the English colonists. On comparing the head of the bird with the 

 fossil cranium and mandibles, and the figures and descriptions in the 'Zoological 

 Transactions ' (Plate 56), my son was at once convinced of their identity. It may not 

 be irrelevant to add, that in the course of Mr. Walter Mantell's journey from Banks* 

 Peninsula along the coast to Otago, he learned from the natives that they believed 

 there still existed in that country the only indigenous terrestrial quadruped, except a 

 species of rat, which there are any reasonable grounds for concluding New Zealand 

 ever possessed. While encamping at Arowenua, in the district of Timaru, the Maoris 

 assured them that about ten miles inland there was a quadruped which they called 

 Kaureke, and that it was formerly abundant, and often kept by their ancestors in a 

 domestic state as a pet animal. It was described as about two feet in length, with 

 coarse grisly hair ; and must have more nearly resembled the otter or badger than the 

 beaver or the Ornithorynchus, which the first accounts seemed to suggest as the proba- 

 ble type. The offer of a liberal reward induced some of the Maoris to start for the 

 interior of the country where the Kaureke was supposed to be located; but they re- 

 turned without having obtained the slightest trace of the existence of such an animal : 

 my son, however, expresses his belief in the native accounts, and that if the creature 

 no longer exists, its extermination is of very recent date. In concluding this brief 

 narrative of the discovery of a genus of birds once contemporary with the colossal 

 Moa, and hitherto only known by its fossil remains, I beg to remark, that this highly 

 interesting fact tends to confirm the conclusions expressed in my communications to 

 the Geological Society, namely, that the Dinornis, Palapteryx, and related forms, were 

 coeval with some of the existing species of birds peculiar to New Zealand, and that 

 their final extinction took place at no very distant period, and long after the advent of 

 the aboriginal Maoris." 



Mr. Gould then read a paper pointing out the zoological characters of the 

 bird discovered by Mr. Mantell, which he had no hesitation in identifying as the 

 species formerly characterized, from its osseous remains, by Prof. Owen under the 

 name of Notornis Mantelli. Mr. Gould in adverting to the extreme interest with 

 which the present existence of a species which was certainly contemporary with the 

 Moa must be regarded, pointed out from the preserved skin, which was on the table, 

 how accurate a prevision of its characrer had been made by Prof. Owen, when investi- 

 gating the fragments from which our first knowledge of it had been derived. 



