438 
natural enemies; and that, as is the case with 7ribonyx, a person may be in its vicinity 
for weeks without ever catching a glimpse of it. 
* From the thickness of its plumage and the great length of its back-feathers, we 
may infer that it affects low and humid situations, marshes, the banks of rivers, and 
the coverts of dripping ferns, so abundant in its native country, Like Porphyrio it 
doubtless enjoys the power of swimming, but would seem, from the structure of its 
legs, to be more terrestrial in its habits than the members of that genus. 
‘| have carefully compared the bill of this example with that figured by Professor 
Owen under the name of Notornis mantelli, and have little doubt that they are refer- 
able to one and the same species; and as we are now in possession of materials whence 
to obtain complete generic characters, I hasten to give the following details in addition 
to those supplied by Professor Owen. 
* Bill somewhat shorter than the head, greatly compressed on the sides, both man- 
dibles beg much deeper than broad; tomia sharp, curving downwards, inclining 
inwards, and slightly serrated; culmen elevated, much arched, and rising on the fore- 
head to a line with the posterior angle of the eye; nostrils round, and placed in a 
depression near the base of the bill; wings very short, rounded, and slightly concave ; 
primaries soft and yielding, the first short, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh equal 
and the longest; tail-feathers soft, yielding and loose in texture; tarsi powerful, 
longer than the toes, almost cylindrical, very broad anteriorly, defended in front and 
on either side posteriorly by broad and distinct scutelle ; the spaces between the scutelle 
reticulated ; anterior toes large and strong, armed with powerful hooked nails, and 
strongly scutellated on their upper surface ; hind toe short, strong, placed somewhat high 
on the tarsus, and armed with a blunt hooked nail. 
“Head, neck, breast, upper part of the abdomen, and flanks purplish blue; back, 
rump, upper tail-coverts, lesser wing-coverts, and tertiaries dark olive-green, tipped with 
verditer-green ; at the nape of the neck a band of rich blue separating the purplish- 
blue of the neck from the green of the body; wings rich deep blue, the greater coverts 
tipped with verditer-green, forming crescentic bands when the wing is expanded ; tail 
dark green ; lower part of the abdomen, vent, and thighs dull bluish black ; under tail- 
coverts white; bill and feet red, 
“Total length ofj the body 26 inches; bill, from the gape to the tip 24, from the 
tip to the posterior edge of the plate on the forehead 3; wing 84; tail 5; tarsi of} 
middle toe 5, nail £; hind toe 4, nail #3.” 
Besides the skull and sternum, I had grounds for referring to Notornisa femur and a 
metatarsal bone in the series of fossils from Waingongoro. 
‘The smaller Coot of New Zealand, called by the natives * Pukeko’ (Porph yrio melanotis, 
Gd.), comes nearest to Votornis in the form and proportions of the bill; but the Tribonya 
mortiert of Tasmania and Australia offers a greater resemblance, in its feeble Wing's, 
thick legs, and short toes, than does any known existing Ralline of New Zealand, to the 

