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and that it is guarded by a reptile of the Lizard species, but I could 

 not learn that any of the present generation had seen it. I still con- 

 sidered the whole as an idle fable, but offered a large reward to any 

 one who would catch me the bird or its protector. At length a bone 

 was brought from a river running- at the foot of the hill, of large size, 

 but the extremities were so much worn away that I could not deter- 

 mine anything as to its proper relationship. About two months ago 

 a single bone of smaller size was brought from a freshwater stream in 

 this bay, for which I gave a good payment, and this induced the natives 

 to go in large numbers to turn up the mud at the banks and in the bed 

 of the same river, and soon a large number of bones was brought, of 

 various dimensions. On a comparison with the bones of a fowl, I 

 immediately perceived that they belonged to a bird of a gigantic size. 

 The bones of which the greatest number have been brought are the 

 three bones of the leg, a few toe-bones, and one claw, which is one 

 inch and a half in length, a few imperfect pelves, and a few vertebrae 

 of different dimensions, and one imperfect cranium, which is small. 

 There are also a few broken pieces, which seem to be ribs. In the 

 case now sent you will receive the largest specimens I have obtained, 

 and also a few of smaller size. The length of the large bone of the 

 leg is two feet ten inches. I have a second case, which I shall send 

 by another vessel, to make sure of your receiving them. If the bones 

 are found to be of sufficient interest, I leave it to your judgement to 

 make what use of them you think proper ; but if the duplicates reach 

 you, perhaps one set may with propriety be deposited in our museum 

 at Oxford. 



" The following observations may not be devoid of interest : — 

 " 1st. None of these bones have been found on dry land, but are all 

 of them from the bed and banks of freshwater rivers, buried only a 

 little distance in the mud ; the largest number are from a small stream 

 in Poverty Bay, "Wairoa, and at many inconsiderable streams, and all 

 these streams are in immediate connexion with hills of some altitude. 

 " 2nd. This bird was in existence here at no very distant time, 

 though not in the memory of any of the inhabitants, for the bones 



