NOTORHIS, THE TAKAHE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11199, 23 August 1898, Page 3

NOTORHIS, THE TAKAHE.

(By Professor W. B Benham.) What is Notornis? Why has the Otago Daily Times printed occasional references to the "Thing" during the last week or so? What is the particular interest of the " Thing " that warrants a special note to announce that it is at present "on view" at th 9 University Museum?' These and, no doubt, other questions are being asked by the " man in the street," and it is the purpose of this short article to answer them. -NotdrnJs is a bud; the Maoris call it '" takahe," and it is known to settlers as the "swamp-hen." The bird is so rarely met with—at any rate by settlers—that only four living specimens have been captured' during 50 years; and even Maoris appear to find it sufficiently rare to make no special search for it, although they occasionally come across it when hunting other birds. * In size the bird is"like a gor.se, but in colouration it resembles the pukeko; its breast is a beautiful rich dark blue, becoming duller on the neck, head, abdomen, and legs; these last are clothed with feathers for a greater distance than in the native turkey, but they are relatively shorter and much thicker than in the latter bird. The legs in both birds have the scaly part, technically termed " tarso-metatarsus," as well as the toes, coloured salmon red. The feathers of the back, wings, and tail are olive green with an almost metallic lustre in certain hghts; below the short tail the feathers are pure white. When the bird as seen from in front these colours are at their brightest and best; seen from behind—as when the bird is running away from the hunter—the brightness is lost; the blue becomes dull and nearly black, the green becomes greeuish grey, ( so that ir it were not for the white tail the bird, when retreating, would be very inconspicuous in the feeble light of the 'bush. ■ This white tail-piece occurs also in the pukeko, as well as in some mammals such as the rabbit and deer, but its meaning is not always obvious, althcugh the general inconspicuousness to foes is diminished, yet its recognition by friends appears to be attained thereby. The eyes are red-brown. But, perhaps, one of the most noticeable features of the bird is its beak—a "great equilateral* triangle of hard pink horn, with one angle directed forwards. At the upper side of the base of the beak is a bright red band of soft tissue like an attempt at a " comb," such as we get in cocks, only transversely placed. The whole is a handsome bird of heavy gait, absolutely unable to use its wings for their natural purpose of flying. Indeed, one of the interests, zoologically, is that like several of our native birds, it is flightless, while its congeners in other countries are endued with powers of flight. The takahe is closely allied to the pukeko (Porphyrio), and not far removed from the brown woodhen (Ocydromus), all these belonging to the family of Rails, which usually frequent more or iess marshy ground, and m other . countries are able to fly as well as other birds. On the other hand the takahe can run very actively, and gave a good chase to those who captured the earlier specimens, while its powerful beak must be a formidable weapon, one would think, which it could use with effect on enemies when at close quarters. The nature of its iood is practically unknown: the previous specimens did not reach scientific hands till after the removal of the viscera: the present specimen, however, reached me in such excellent condition that I have been able to examine all the internal organs; and I find 'the stomach and intestine filled with a kind of grass with , cylindrical leaves, all "cut up into lengths of a quarter inoh to one-third inch. But whether this is its normal food or not is uncertain ; like its predecessors it -was caught in winter on low-lying grounds near the water; but there is no doubt but that it lives usually in the higher and rougher bush, and it was, probably, driven down to the water's edge by stress of weather and the consequent difficulty of getting enough to eat. Certain it is that though thoroughly healthy in every way, there was no fat in the body such as one finds m a normally well-fed bird ; moreover, its beak seems needlessly powerful for cutting up grass. . . . " The present specimen is a young female, possibly not quite fully grown ; the measurements of the various* external parts of the body agree almost exactly with those given by' Sir W.Bullei''for the bird examined by' him nearly 20 years ago.' Yes; it is 19 years since the previous specimen was captured, and—pace Mr Park,—it is ancertain whether any have even been seen since 1879 ; at any rate I believe, there is no record of such a fact. Even a greater length of time separates the capture of the third from the first specimen, to wit, 30 years; for it was in 1849 that the first specimen, ever seen by scientific folk, was chased and captured by a party of sealers in Duck Gove, Dusky Sound. Of this the skin alone remains, stuffed and. set up in the British Museum; the rest of the bird was eaten by the captors. ■ . The second specimen, which was caught in 1851 by Maoris on Secretary Island, Thompson's Sound, also found its'way to the British Museum. The third specimen was caught by a rabbiter's dog (1879) on the eastern shore of Lake Te Anau. and its remains were purchased for the Dresden Museum for 100 guineas. The three spots at which the captures were made are at the corners ef a triangle, each side of which measure about 10G Miles. It is scarcely surprising then, that this the fourth specimen of the bird now temporarily deposited in the Ofcago University Museum, should be the cause of seme excitement amongst all those—and these are happily many—who take an interest in the birds of New Zealand, especially in those which, like the takahe and the kakapo, are am the way to extermination—a result of the interference with the " equilibrium' of JVature," brought abeut by the ferrets so thoughtlessly introduced by a too impulsive brovernment some years ago.. The specimen now in the museum belongs to Mr Ross, brother of the guide of that name. It appears that Ross was walking along the shore of Lake Te Anau, accon> pamed by his dog, which suddenly disappeared into the bush and reappeared carrying the takahe. Mr Ross, fortunately for science, despatched the bird to Dr Young, of Invercargill who wired to me to inquire whether I could recommend a taxidermist who could be trusted to preserve the bird with all the tender care merited by its rarity and interest. The museum, luckily, possesses in the person of Mr E. Jennings not only a skilful taxidermist but an ornithologist who can value a, bird for its own sake. So I replied to Dr Young to send it along; and I announced therreceipt of his telegram to the meeting of the Otago Institute on the 9th of August, where the news was received with very great interest. Mr Hamilton took the trouble to travel to Invercargill next day m order to bring back the bird, and to learn the facts of the capture- but in the meantime it had been despatched to Dunedin, and reached me in capital condition. It was at once handed over to Mr Jennings; the skin was properly and skilfully cured, so.much of the skeleton as was possible was removed and dried, and the viscera are preserved in spirit. Mr Jennings, it may be mentioned, preserved the Dresden skin, so far as it was possible to do so, after its unskilful treatment by the captor. As a result of communication with Dr Young, the bird has been stuffed and is now '■ set up,' awaiting further instructions ; Dr Young, acting for the owner, has generously permitted me to exhibit the bird for a short time, after which it will be returned to In- ' vercargill. But what its ultimate fate will be no one at 'present knows. It may be, and I fear will be, impossible to retain it in the colony, as the price that it will fetch is probably considerably higher than it was 20 years ago; and unless some wealthy colonist can be found to present it to one of the colonial museums it will go like its predecessors to Europe. But although the skin of the takahe is very rare, its bones are less rare and less expensive. The Otago Museum is fortunate enough to possess a nearly complete skeleton, including the only skull on public exhibj+ion in the colony, or anywhere else indeed, except London and Dresden. Other bones exist in private collections, but they are by no means numerous. Another feature of interest lies in the fact that the takahe (Notornis) exists nowhere else in the world except in the South Island of New Zealand. The name "Notornis mantelli" was bestowed by the late naturalist Sir Richard Owen, on a few bones dis-

covered in a fossilised condition in the North Island—viz., a part of a skull, a jaw, ; and a leg bone. The examination of the skeleton of the second bird, subsequently captured in the South Island, led ornithologists to conclude that' both the living and the extinct bird belong to the same species. But later on careful measurements of the bones in the Dresden Museum by Dr A. B. Meyer, and of the bones in theOtago Mu^ scum by the late Professor Parker, as well as of bones obtained by Mr Hamilton, render this identity very doubtful. Dr Meyer has, as a result of his measurements, given the name " Nnfcornis hochstetteri" to the living bird; and we shall probably be right in accepting this revision of the name. It may be that the fossil bones, imperfect as they were, belonged to a male bird, whilst the remaining specimens are females, but this is extremely improbable. At present we do not know for certain whether there is any difference m the colouration or in the size of the two sexes ; one in the British Museum according to Sir W. Buller is more brightly coloured than the Dresden specimen, which he believes to be a female. But no anatomical examination of any of the previously obtained birds was possible for the purpose of deciding the sex, and the only definite fact is that this fourth specimen is a female, and that it agrees in size and colouration .with the Dresden specimen. From analogy with our other native birds' it is quite probable that a different species ot Notornis inhabited each of the two islands: that of the North Island is extinct, that of the South Island will become so shortly. ;