142 



NOTORNIS HOCHSTETTERI 



A.B.M. 



(Plate 34.) 



Notornis Hochstetteri A. B. Meyer, Abbild. Vogelskelett, Lief. IV & V, p. 28, pi. XXXIV- 

 XXXVII (1883— South Island, New Zealand) ; Zeitschr. ges. Orn. II, p. 45, pi. I 

 (1885— figures of the bird). 



Notornis mantelli (non Owen 1848 1) Gould, P.Z.S. London, 1850, pi. 21 ; Trans. Zool. Soc. 

 London IV, pi. 25 (1850) ; Gould, B. Austr. Suppl., pi. 76 (1869) 5 Buller, B. New 

 Zealand, pi. (1873) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXIII, p. 208 (1894). 



HE name Notornis mantelli having been based on a cranium and some 



X leg-bones from the North Island, and the bones of a specimen from the 

 South Island, showing marked differences, Dr. A. B. Meyer was fully- 

 justified in describing the latter form as different, under the name of 

 N. hochstetteri. 



According to the describer there are considerable differences in the 

 cranial bones, but the comparison of the leg-bones shows such differences in 

 size that these alone would be sufficient to separate the North and South Island 

 forms. The femur of N. hochstetteri measures 109, that of N. mantelli 122, 

 the tibia of the former 165, the tarso-metatarsus 109, the tibia of the latter 

 200, the tarso-metatarsus 129 mm. For further measurements see A. B. 

 Meyer, Abbild. Vogelskelett I, p. 30. 



The upper surface is olive-green with some slaty-blue shading, the 

 quills are black with purplish blue outer webs ; rectrices blackish, green on 

 the outer webs. Head, neck, and under surface purplish blue, thighs more 

 blackish. Under tail-coverts white, frontal plate and bill bright red, yellow 

 towards the tip of both mandibles. Feet red. 



Although this bird is evidently not extinct, a specimen having been 

 captured as late as 1898, it seems that not many examples live at present in 

 New Zealand, as they have been sought after a good deal, and yet only four 

 have been taken so far, i.e., the two in the British Museum, one in the 

 Dresden Museum, and the last-mentioned one. 



Full accounts of the capture of this last specimen have been given in 

 the Trans. New Zealand Institute, XXXI, pp. 146-150, and in Sir Walter 

 Buller's Supplement to the Birds of New Zealand, I, pp. 66-74, where, however, 

 the year of the capture is not mentioned, though one can guess that it 

 must have taken place shortly before the articles on it appeared. 



Habitat : Middle Island, usually called South Island, apparently nearly 

 extinct. 



