FLIGHTLESS BIRDS. 25 
examples subsequently came to light. ‘he Notornis is a 
huge ralline bird, in many respects resembling a giant 
Swamp-hen (Porphyrio), but with feet more adapted for 
terrestial habits. Its wings are very abbreviated, so that 
it is quite incapable of flight, but it appears to be able to 
run with some rapidity. Its most striking external feature 
is its large, much arched, bill, strongly compressed laterally. 
It inhabits swampy districts, where the vegetation is very 
dense, and where the thickness of cover and difficulty of 
access combine to give it the security which its compara- 
tively helpless condition necessitates. For many years 
only three specimens were known, two of which are in the 
British Museum, and the third in Dresden, but quite 
recently a fourth specimen has been secured. 
It does not happen every day when one is strolling along 
the shore of a lake for one’s dog to disappear into the 
scrub and come back with a bird in its mouth worth 
£300. Yet this is what occurred near the shore of Lake 
Te Anau, in New Zealand, in August of last year, and the 
above sum is what was offered for it. This specimen 
remains in the colony, which is undoubtedly the fittest 
place for it. As this is only the fourth specimen of this 
bird obtained in 50 years, although it has been much 
sought for, it looks as if it were on the verge of extinction, 
but considering how dense and difficult of access is the 
ground it inhabits, there is reason to hope that it may 
continue to survive. 
The sternum of Notornts is broad and flat, and is devoid 
of all trace of a rostrum; its lateral curvature is very 
slight, the transverse sternal angle being very open. The 
keel is feebly developed, measuring, in a specimen exam- 
ined by Jeffrey Parker, only ‘9 cm. in depth. The coraco- 
scapular angle is also more open than it is in the allied 
