177 
them living; of course, disappearing rapidly even there, as man 
advances to subdue the land. 1 There appears to be evidence of 
the present existence of three or four species of the genus Apteryx 
in New Zealand. 2 
The above mentioned Apteryx Australis was the first species 
made known to science. The original specimen in 1(S 12 was ob- 
tained by Captain Barklay of the ship “Providence”, and is stated 
to have come from Dusky Bay in the Province of Otago , South 
Island. Some time afterwards a second specimen from the same 
locality was procured by Dr. Mantel 1 and examined more closely 
by Mr. Bartlett. This specimen became the property of the Bri- 
tish Museum. All the other specimens exhibited in the European 
collections as Apteryx australis come from the North. Island, and 
belong to the species described by Mr. Bartlett as Apteryx Mantelli 
In fact , this very common species is so closely allied to the Apt 
australis as to render it very desirable , that additional specimens 
of the later should be obtained and a rigid comparison instituted 
between the two. 
The Apteryx Mantelli 3 is , as far we are now informed , con- 
fined to the North Island. This bird differs from the original 
Apteryx australis of Dr. Shaw, in its smaller size, its darker and 
more rufous colour, its longer tarsus, which is scutellated in front, 
its shorter toes and claws, which are horn-coloured; its smaller 
wings, which have much stronger and thicker quills; and also in 
having long straggling hairs on the face. In the northern districts 
of the Northern Island this species of Apteryx appears to have be- 
come quite extinct. But in the island called Houtourou, or Little 
Barrier Island, a small island, completely wooded, rising about 
1 Report on the Present State of our Knowledge of the Species of Apteryx 
living in New Zealand. By Philip Ludley Selater, M. A., Ph. D. , J. R. S., and 
Dr. F. v. Hochstetter. Read at the Meeting of the British Association, Sept. 1861. 
2 Apteryx Australis, Shaw, Nat. Misc. XXIV. pi. 1057, 1058, and Gen. 
Zool. XIII. p. 71. 
Apteryx Australis, Bartlett, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1850, p. 275. 
„ „ Yarrell, Trans. Zool. Soc. I. p. 71., pi. 10. 
8 Apteryx Australis, Gould, Birds of Australia XI. pi. 2. 
„ Mantelli, Bartlett, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1847, p. 93. 
Hochstetter, New Zealand. 
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