210 
only visible at low-water, when bones more or less perfect are occa¬ 
sionally observable projecting from the waterworn surface of the bog. 
This deposit is about 3 feet in depth and not more than 100 yards 
in length ; the extent inland is concealed by vegetation and a cover¬ 
ing of superficial detritus, and is supposed to be very inconsiderable. 
This bed rests upon a blue tertiary clay that emerges here and there 
along that part of the coast, and which abounds in shells and corals, 
of species existing in the adjacent sea. 
This bone deposit was evidently a morass or swamp, on which the 
New Zealand fiax ( Phormium tenax ) once grew luxuriantly. Bones 
of the larger species of Moa have from time to time been obtained 
from this spot by the natives and European visitors; and, as in the 
menaccanite sand beds at Waingongoro, they are associated with bones 
of one species of dog and two species of seal : my son also collected 
crania and other remains of a species of Apteryx (probably Ap. Au¬ 
stralis ), Albatros, Penguin, and of some smaller birds whose cha¬ 
racters and relations have not yet been ascertained : no bones of the 
Notornis were observed in this locality. 
It was from this ancient morass that my son obtained the entire 
series of bones composing the pair of feet of the same individual Di- 
nornis robustus , standing erect, the one about a yard in advance of 
the other, as if the unfortunate bird had sunk in the slough, and unable 
to extricate itself had perished on the spot. The upper or proximal 
ends of the tarso-metatarsals were alone visible above the sod on the 
retiring of the tide; these w r ere carefully dug round, and the pha¬ 
langes exposed in their natural order and connection : the bones were 
numbered as they were extracted from the soil, and thus the normal 
elements of the locomotive organs of one of the colossal struthious 
bipeds of New Zealand were for the first time determined *. 
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 now the pleasure 
of submitting to this Society, having previously placed it in the hands 
of the eminent ornithologist Mr. Gould to figure 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 avo¬ 
cations in Dusky Bay. Perceiving the trail of a large and unknown 
bird on the snow with which the ground was then covered, they fol¬ 
lowed the foot-prints 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 de¬ 
licious. The beak and legs were of a bright red colour. My son 
* The principal dimensions of these hones are given in the Quarterly Journal of 
the Geological Society, vol. vi. p. 338 ; and figures with descriptions in ‘ The Pic¬ 
torial Atlas of Organic Remains,’ just published. 
