Pe 
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great Coot of that country. I continue in hopeful expectation of the opportunity of 
working out more closely the affinities of Notornis by receiving, through some fortunate 
finder and friendly contributor, an entire skeleton of the bird. ‘The ardent and accom- 
plished students of the avifauna of New Zealand incline, howeyer, to the opinion that 
the flightless Coot has become extinct. 
It is true that a second skin of this bird was obtained by Mr. Walter Mantell, of 
whom it was obtained by purchase, together with the first skin, by the Trustees of the 
British Museum. I have not been able to ascertain the precise locality in which this 
second example of the living Notornis was taken or the circumstances of the capture, 
Dr. Buller, in his excellent work on the living birds of New Zealand, writes :— 
“Mr. Mantell was fortunate enough to secure a second specimen of Notornis; and 
these examples, the only two known, having been carefully mounted by Mr. Bartlett, 
now stand side by side in the National Collection of Great Britain, and, like the remains 
of the Dodo in the adjoining case, daily attract the attention of thousands of eager 
Visitors!” } 
Dr. Buller correctly states that the “ second specimen, which is supposed to be a 
female, is somewhat smaller than the first in all its dimensions, has the colours gene- 
rally duller, and the olive-green of the upper parts shaded brown ” 2. 
The first specimen he describes as that of an “ adult male.” No opportunity, how- 
ever, was given in either instance for dissection by a person competent to determine the 
sex; and the supposed ‘female’ may have been an immature bird in an early phase of 
plumage. Dr. Buller gives as the native names of the Nofornis, ‘ Moho,’ ‘ Taixahe,’ and 
‘Tokohea.’ But the remark quoted by Dr. Mantell from his son’s letter, that the 
natives of the pahs and yillages in his route homeward along the South Island, and 
at Wellington on the North Island, regarded the bird-skin as “a perfect novelty.” 
must be borne in mind. 
The date of the extinction of Notornis in the North Island may have been that of the 
Dinornis, Apteryx, and Cnemiornis. yen in the South Island, which was less peopled 
by the Maories, the Votornis would seem to have been driven to the south-west extre- 
mity, where I am still in hopes that, as Dr. Buller remarks, ‘ Although no examples 
of the Notornis have, since 1848, been obtained, it does not necessarily follow that the 
species is absolutely extinct. The recluse habits of such a bird would account for its 
escaping notice in the only partially explored portions of the country ”’*. 
In Steward’s Island and contiguous portions of dry land to the south-west of the South 
Island of New Zealand search might be made. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATE. 
FRONTISPIECE TO VOL. LI. 
Side view of the larger specimen of the Notornis in the British Museum: nat. size. 
1 * A History of the Birds of New Zealand,’ by Walter Lawry Buller, Sc.D., F.L.S.,&¢. 4to, 1872, p. 192. 
7 Tb. p. 189. * Op, cit. p. 192. 
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