An incomplete skeleton of Notornis hochstetteri found at Waitati and now in the Otago Museum is described and figured. A list is given of all localities in the South Island from which Notornis remains have been recorded, also a list of localities of hitherto unrecorded bones in the Dominion, Canterbury, Otago and Invercargill museums.

A hitherto undescribed, incomplete skeleton of Notorms hochstetteri Meyer in the Otago Museum has recently come to my notice. The only available information about its origin is that it was found in sand at Waitati and was presented to the Museum by T. H. Murdoch. The skull, lower jaw, pelvis, femur and two tibiae were registered in 1913 and the tarso-metatarsus in 1914; presumably the tarso-metatarsus was overlooked in 1913 and was found in 1914 on revisiting the locality.

The skull is well preserved, but lacks the quadrate, quadrato-jugal, jugal, pterygoids and prevomers; these easily displaced bones apparently became separated from it in the sand and were overlooked by the collector. The following are the measurements of the various structures:

Mr. David Teviotdale supplied me with a list of the Notornis material held in the Invercargill Museum, a skull from Wakapatu, 1938, premaxilla and lower mandible from Pahia, 1933, lower mandible, Tokonui Mouth, 1939, all collected by J. H. Sorensen. A skull from Back Beach, Greenhills, 1942, collected by Robert Gibb, pelvis and sternum from caves, Limehills, 1928, collected by Messrs. George jaquiery, Fowler and Woods, and a skull and upper mandible from Wakapatu, 1946, collected by D. Teviotdale.

Falla (1948) states “Sub-fossil remains from Te Aute and Martinborough in the North Island, and Waikari, Enfield, Castle Rocks and other South Island localities …” Waikari (Pyramid Valley) and Castle Rocks are referable to records mentioned above, whilst Enfield, Dr. Falla (in litt.) informs me, refers to information gleaned from H. O. Forbes' records.

Consideration of the twenty-nine localities recorded above shows that Notornis was distributed from one end of the island to the other. The frequency of the sub-fossil remains found in an area is not necessarily a true indication of the population density of the bird, but depends rather on the suitability of the area for preservation of remains, and the work done there by collectors. The preponderance of remains and the bird's present existence in the Southland-Otago area indicates, however, that it occurred there in greater numbers than elsewhere.

Acknowledgments

My thanks are due to the Directors of the Dominion, Canterbury and Invercargill Museums for the information acknowledged in the text, and especially to the Director of the Otago Museum, Dr. H. D. Skinner, for information supplied and permission to describe the Waitati specimen, and to Mr. R. Blick, Cawthron Institute, for photographs.

References

Benham, W. B., 1899. Notes on the Fourth Skin of Notornis. Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 31, pp. 146–150.

Buller, W. L., 1873. History of the Birds of New Zealand. London, 1st Edition.

Falla, R. A., 1948. The Re-discovery of the Takahe. N.Z. Sci. Rev., vol. 6, pp. 123–124.

Hamilton, A., 1892. On the Fissures and Caves at the Castle Rocks, Southland; with a Description of the Remains of the Existing and Extinct Birds found in them. Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 25, pp. 88–106.

Mantell, G. A., 1850. Notice of the Discovery by Mr. Walter Mantell in the Middle Island of New Zealand, of a Living Specimen of the Notornis, a Bird of the Rail Family, Allied to Brachypteryx, and hitherto unknown to Naturalists except in a Fossil State. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., part XVIII, pp. 209–212.

Park, James. The Takahe (Notornis mantelli) in Western Otago. Trans. N.Z. Inst, vol. 21, pp. 226–230.

Parker, T. J. On the Skeleton of Notornis mantelli. Trans. N.Z. Inst, vol. 14, pp. 245–258.

Parker, T. J. Notes on a Skeleton of Notornis, recently acquired by the Otago University Museum. Trans. N.Z. Inst, vol. 18, pp. 78–82.