87 
and of some smaller birds, whose characters and relations have not yet been fully ascertained ; no 
bones of the Notornis were observed in this locality It was in the course of last year, on the 
occasion of my son’s second visit to the south of the Middle Island, that he had the good fortune to 
secure the recent Notornis which I have the pleasure of submitting to this Society, having previously 
placed it in the hands of the eminent ornithologist, Mr. Gould, to tigure and describe, as a tribute of 
respect for his indefatigable labours in this department of natural history. 
“ This bird was taken by some sealers who were pursuing their avocations in Dusky Bay. Per- 
ceiving the trail of a large and unknown bird on the snow with which the ground was then covered, 
they followed the footprints till 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 ate by the crew, each partaking of the dainty, which was declared to be delicious. The 
beak and legs were of a bright red colour. My son secured the skin, together with very fine speci- 
mens of the Kakapo, or Ground-Parrot, a pair of Huias, and two species of Kiwi, namely Apteryx 
australis anCi Ap. oweni; the latter very rare bird is now added to the collection of the British 
Museum. 
“ 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. 
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 Transac- 
tions ’ (pi. 56), my son was at once convinced of their identity ; and so delighted was he by the 
discovery of a living example of one of the supposed extinct contemporaries of the Moa, that he 
immediately wrote to me, and mentioned that the skull and beaks were alike in the recent and fossil 
specimens, and that the abbreviated and feeble development of the wings, both in their bones and 
plumage, w’ere in perfect accordance with the indications afforded by the fossil humerus and sternum 
found by him at Waingongoro, and now in the British Museum, as pointed out by Professor Owen in 
the memoir above referred to In concluding this brief narrative of the discovery of a living 
example of a genus of birds once contemporary with the colossal Moa, and hitherto only knowm by 
its fossil remains, I beg to remark that this highly interesting fact tends to confirm the conclusions 
expressed in my communications to the Geological Society — namely, that the IJinornis, Palapteryx, 
and related forms were coeval with some of the existing species of birds peculiar to New Zealand, and 
that their final extinction took .place at no very distant period, and long after the advent of the 
aboriginal Maoris.” 
In the paper which Mr. Gould read at the same Meeting, he prefaced his detailed description of 
the bird with the following remarks : — 
“ Dr. Mantell having kindly placed his sou’s valuable acquisition in my hands for the purpose of 
characterizing it in the ‘ Proceedings ’ of this Society, and of afterwards figuring and describing it in 
the appendix to my work on the birds of Australia, I beg leave to commence the pleasing task he 
has assigned me. 
“ The amount of interest which attaches to the present remarkable bird is perhaps greater than 
that which pertains to any other with which I am acquainted, inasmuch as it is one of the few 
remaining species of those singular forms which inhabited that supposed remnant of a former conti- 
