lay 
Malis (Vultur (Uroactus) audax of Latham (ib. fig. 8), and with that in the lareer 
Tlarrier Hawk of New Zealand (Circus gouldi) (ib. fig. 15). In all diurnal Rains 
such ungual phalanx is characterized not only by its size, but by its curvature, its 
eradual tapering to a sharp point, by the depth of the pair of trochlear cavities at the 
base fitting closely or interlocking with the distal condyles of the penultimate phalanx, 
and above all by the size and prominence of the lever for the insertion of the flexor 
tendon of the claw phalanx, which recalls the corresponding development in the 
retractile claw-bones of the Tiger. The process in question (4), in its direction and 
extent, resembles that in the Falcons and Harriers (fig. 18, 4) more than that in the 
Bold Vulture or in the Eagles. 
In reference to the evidences which may be adduced from the above-described remains 
of the more especial or nearer affinities of Harpagornis in the diurnal division of the 
Raptorial order, 1 esteem as the most important that of the relative length of the 
metatarsus to the tibia. In the Eagles (Aguilinw, Bd. Sh.), Buzzards (PButeonine, Ba. 
Sh.), and Falcons (Falconine, Bd. Sh.) the superiority of length in the tibia as com- 
pared with the metatarsus is greater than in the Harriers and Goshawks (Accipitrine, 
Bd. Sh). In the Wedge-tailed or Bold Eagle (Uroaetus audax) the tibia is one third 
longer than the metatarsus. In the Golden Eagle (Aguila chrysaetos) the tibia is rather 
more than two fifths longer than the metatarsus. In our Ring-tail Harrier (Circus 
pygargus) the tibia (Pl CVII. figs. 11,12) is rather less than one fourth longer 
than the metatarsus. In J/arpagornis mooret the tibia (ib. figs. 5, 6) is rather more 
than one third longer than the metatarsus (Pl. CVI. figs. 5, 6). By this character the 
ereat extinct Raptorial of New Zealand deviates from the Harriers (Circus) and Gos- 
hawks (Astur), and approximates the Eagles and Falcons, and more especially the latter, 
and also the Buzzards, in some minor modifications which have been pointed out in the 
descriptions of the bones. The determination of the closer affinity of Harpagornis to 
the shorter-tarsaled groups of Accipitres, or Diurnal Birds of Prey, must, however, 
await the acquisition of evidence of the skull and beak and of the sternum. __ 
I cannot quit this especially interesting subject, connected with the history of the 
extinct birds of New Zealand, without a quotation from the paper initiating the quest 
of their osseous remains, In the “ Notice of a Fragment of the Femur of a Gigantic 
Bird of New Zealand,” published in the ‘ Transactions’ of the Zoological Society, I cite 
the testimony of the person who brought the specimen for sale to the Royal College of 
Surgeons, and permitted me to describe and figure it, viz. that the natives of the North 
Island of New Zealand, from whom he stated that he had obtained the bone, “ had a 
tradition that it belonged to a bird of the Eagle kind, but which has become extinct, 
1 
and to which they gave the name of Movie"’. 
' Vol. iii. (1839) p. 29, pl. 3. The specimen in question was submitted for sale, in the first place, to the 
British Museum; and the vendor was recommended by Dr. Gray to offer it to the Royal College of Surgeons. 
i i o fi D r hen * Committee of the 
The price asked (ten guineas) was deemed too high for the fragment by the then Museum hs : 
Nertends 7% 
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