264 
POPULAU HISTOEY OF BIEDS. 
proportion to its lengthy and the shield on the forehead is 
of large size. 
Professor Owen described a curious genus^ from the 
cranium and other bones of a fossil bird^ found by Mr. 
Mantell in New Zealand ; he named it Notornis Mantelli 
(Plate XVIII. fig. 3)^ and; from its osteological characters^ 
at once referred it to this family; and, from the form of 
its sternum, concluded that it must have been without the 
powers of flight. The natives had a tradition of a kind of 
water-rail, which once abounded in their islands, and which 
they called Moho or TaJcahe ; but, according to their state- 
ments, the birds had been long ago exterminated. The 
Eev. Eichard Taylor, of Waimate, who has long resided in 
New Zealand, and studied its natural history, alludes to it 
thus: — Moho J Eail : colour, black; said to be a wingless 
bird as large as a fowl, with red beak and legs ; it is nearly 
exterminated by the cats : its cry was Keo ! keo 
In 1849 Mr. Mantell obtained a recent specimen of this 
bird, which was captured by some sealers near Dusky Bay. 
These men perceived on the snow, with which the ground 
happened to be covered at the time, the footprints of a large 
bird ; they follov/ed the trail till they obtained a sight of the 
bird, which was pursued by their dogs, and captured after 
