PLATE VI. 



Rallid^-Rails. 



GENUS NOTORNIS. {Owen.) 



SO far as is known to the contrary, the only species of this genus forms the solitary remnant of a group of 

 birds that were at one time numerous in New Zealand, and the neighbouring islands as far north as 

 Norfolk Island. 



NOTORNIS MANTELLI. (Otcen). 



MOJSO. Genus Notornis. 



A PECULIAR interest attaches to tins bird from the fact that it was known for some time only to naturalists 

 through some fossilised or semi-fossilised remains upon which they constructed a theory much as they did in 

 the case of the Dodo. Then Mr. "Walter Mantell was so fortunate as to come across a living specimen 

 during his trip to New Zealand, which is still the only representative we have of what may be considered as an 

 almost extinct species. 



Under these circumstances, our knowledge of " the last of the Mohicans " is somewhat barren. Taken 

 verbatim from the " Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1850," it amounts to this : — 



" This bird was taken by some sealers who were pursuing their avocations in Dusky Bay. Perceiving 

 the trail of a large and unknown bird on the snow with which the ground was then covered, they followed the 

 footprints until they obtained a sight of the Notornis, which their dogs instantly pursued, and after a long chase, 

 caught alive in the gully of a sound behind Resolution Island. It ran with great speed, and upon 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. My son fortunately secured the skin." 



" 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 exterminated by the wild cats and dogs, not an individual 

 having been seen or heard of since the arrival of the English colonists. That intelligent observer, the Rev. 

 Richard Taylor, who has so long resided in the Islands, has never heard of a bird of this kind having been seen. 

 In his ' Leaf from the Natural History of New Zealand,' under the head of ' Moho,' is the following note : ' Rail, 

 colour black, said to be a wingless bird as large as a fowl, with red beak and legs ; it is nearly exterminated by 

 the cat; its cry was keo keo.' The inaccuracy and vagueness of this description prove it to be from native 

 report and not from actual observation. To the natives of the pahs or villages on the homeward route, and at 

 Wellington, the bird was a perfect novelty and excited much interest. I may add, that upon comparing the head 

 of the bird with the fossil cranium and mandibles, and the figures and descriptions in the ' Zoological Trans- 

 actions,' my son was at once convinced of their identity, and so delighted was he by the discovery of a living 



