IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21600, 22 March 1932, Page 2

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

THE THIRD NOTORNIS.

WENT TO GERMAN MUSEUM.

By J. Drummond, F.L.S., F.Z.S.

Dr A. B. Meyer, who was director of the Dresden Museum when it received the skin and skeleton of the third Notornis 44 years ago, states that the New Zealand Government made no effort to buy the specimen while it was in Dunedin, before it was sent to London, but, after a patron had presented it to the Dresden Museum, the New Zealand Government wrote to Dr Meyer asking him to surrender the specimen. The Government offered the sura paid in London (£110), and, in addition, a collection of skins of native New Zealand birds. “Of course, I refused the offer,” Dr Meyer states; “ in any case, the rules of the museum would not allow me to accept it.”

In scientific journals Dr Moyer described the specimen in scientific terras. Up to that time the rare bird was known as Notornis mantelli, a name Sir Richard Owen had given to an extinct North Island bird represented by a fossil skull. It was believed that this and the three living individuals then known belonged to the same species. Finding that the specimen in his hands was different in important points from the fossil, Dr Meyer gave his specimen, and the other two specimens of the living bird, the title Notornis hochstetteri. Bv doing this he dedicated this large, handsome, massive rail to Dr Ferdinand von Hochstetter, who, 74 years ago, came to New Zealand in-the Austrian exploring frigate Novara, and who helped to straighten out the early classification of New Zealand's birds.

Mr W. Mantel!, who missed having his name associated with a species that almost ranks in interest with the dodo and the great auk, was an enthusiastic naturalist in the pioneering days of this Dominion. .He was particularly interested in moa bones. Eighty-five years ago he gathered moa bones in a bed of volcanic ashes at Waingongoro, North Island, and sent them to Sir Richard Owen. Amongst them Sir Richard Owen found parts of the skull of a bird about the same size as a turkey. The back of the head was broad and sloping, somewhat like a moa’s head, but there were differences that led him to make extensive comparisons with moa bones. These brought him to the family of the coots and water-hens. There he found the largest number of similarities with the fossil skull. Although the evidence on which he worked was incomplete and scanty, his anatomical training and his remarkably accurate observations convinced him that there had lived in New Zealand a bird that might be called the giant of the coots, but resembling the pnkeko, which is a rail. He named the cenus Notornis. The species he named Mantelli, in honour of the discoverer of the fossil skull.

Mr Mantell’s name remains in association with an extinct bird; Dr Hochstetter’s name is linked with the living Notornis. • The word “ living ” is applied here to the four live individuals of Notornis that have been caught. It may have a wider application, as it is reasonable to believe that, in the wild, unfrequented country of the Southern Sounds, from which all living individuals have come, there are more members of the species. For the fourth and latest individual, caught by Messrs D. and J. Rosa at Lake Te Aunu 34 years ago, and placed in the Otago Museum, the Government paid the discoverer £250. Since then the law has altered the conditions. If there are any living individuals of the Notornis they belong to the Government, not to any persons who find them. Anybody who handles one, or interferes with it, is liable to be fined.

The egg of the Notornis is unknown. The eggs also belong to the Government. When, or if, an egg is found it, as a curio, will be in the same class as the egg of the great auk. A Notornis egg probably will prove to be about two inches and n-hnlf long, richly coloured in greys and browns, dotted and blotched with grey and brownish violet. The great auk’s egg is about four inches long, dirty white, scrawled or blotched with pale grey, drab, or brown. Although a comparatively few years ago the great auk existed in large numbers, it is absolutely extinct. Its last stronghold was rocky islands and skerries in Iceland. The last authentic record of it was on June 3, 1844. Flightless, it spent much time in the water, and nested on remote islands in the North Atlantic.

Slaughter of the great auk was conducted mainly for food. Later, fishermen used it for bait. Its fat and its feathers became an attraction. Collectors put in the finishing blow’. While there are only four skins and no eggs of the Notornis, there are about 81 skins of the great auk, 10 skeletons, about 130 birds represented by detached bones, and 70 eggs. Values of the great auk’s skin and eggs have increased many fold, reaching fabulous sums. An. authenticated egg ot the Notornis would be priceless. It could not serve anybody’s cupidity. To dispose of it to a purchaser would be difficult, as any person in possession of it, even if possession was secured by purchase, would be outside of the law.

Mr Mantel], who discovered the fossil skull of an extinct Notornis, obtained the first Nptornis skin. Eighty-three years ago sealers in Duck Cove, Resolution Sound, Southern Sounds, saw in the snow the trail of a large, unknown bird. Following the trail, they caught the bird alive in a gully. As it ran with great speed the chase was a long one. When caught it screamed- loudly and fought a.nd struggled violently. It was kept alive on a schooner for several days, and then killed. The body was roasted and eaten, members of the crew declaring that the flesh was delicious. That, probably, was the most valuable meal in New Zealand. The scalers refrained from eating the feathers. The whole skin was secured by Mr Man tell. He also obtained the second Notornis skin, belonging to a bird caught by Maoris on Secretary Island, Thompson Sound. Both these skins, that is, the first and the second are in the British Museum,

Mr Donald Rosa gave me an account of the discovery of the fourth Notornis by him and his brother John. They were camping on the shore of Lake Te Anau. south of Shag Burn, 34 years ago. The Notornis was in their minds. They knew that £llO had been paid for one. and the form and plumage of the species were fixed in their mind by coloured drawings. Lying in their bunks one Sunday morning, they heard a strange bird note. As they were tired they did not get up and look for the bird, but they discussed it and made up their minds that it was a Notornis.

Soon before dark on the same day Mr Donald Ross went for a walk along the beach, accompanied by his dog, Rough. About 150 yards behind the camp Rough made a determined rush and caught a bird under the overhanging branches of a beech tree. Believing that Rough had found a weka, Mr Rosa called it to bring its captive to him. Rough obeyed, and Mr Ross knew that another Notornis had been added to the short list. The bird was alive. When the brothers were considering how they could make a cage out of a box, the head of the Notornis dropped to one side, and it died, ft had lived for about half an hour after it was captured. Its eyes had been bright and intelligent, it had held its head proudly, and death seemed to come very suddenly.

The brothers knew that even in death the Notornis was valuable. After tea, they struck camp, put everything into the boat, began to run down the take, and soon left behind the scene of their discovery, now known as Notornis Bay. They took the body to the post office, and sent it to Dr Young in Invercargill. Returning to their work in Notornis Bay, they stayed there for three weeks. When they went to the lake post office again, they found that the scientific world was excited by their discovery. Mr Jennings, taxidermist in Otago Museum, skinned and mounted the specimen. The only injury disclosed was a broken breast bone. Shock resulting from the injury probably caused death. Mr Ross told me that while his brother and lie wished their Notornis to remain in New Zealand, they believed that they could have got £IOOO for it elsewhere, and that they felt that they, two working men. had made a present of £750 to Otago Museum.