The times., 1898-11-13
A RARE BIRD.
The Discovery oflon That Wa. Lors
Relieved to lie Extinct.

The Discovcry ofl0nAT That Was Lons
Relieved to lie Extinct.
(From the Eonipn- standard.)
Every one who is solicitous for the pres
ervation and protectio4tpf vanishing bird
fauna will hear with interest the redis-
covery, near Inverefigjt of Manteils No
tornis, the large fiightiess gallinule of
New Zealand. Little more than fifty
years have elapsed since the first bones
of this creature wrrerssnt to England.
and determined by Prof. Owen TO be-
long to bird of the rail family. of which
we have in Britain seven examples. four
of them-the landrail. the waterfall. the
coot and the moorhen-being generally
familiar, while the other three are more
or less frequent visitors to our islands.
As the imperfect skull on which Owen
based his opinion was clearly fossil, 1t
was believed thar the bird was extinct:
but within two years a couple of skins
were sent to England by Mr.. Walter
Mantell. son of the eminent paleontolo-
gist, and In 1850 the father had the sat
| isfaction of bringing before the Zoologi-
cal Society the results of his sons finds.
which are now to be seen in the bird
gallery of the Natural History Museum.
From these specimens visitors may see
what the Notornis was like. while. in ad-
dition to Illustrations in Sir Walter Bull
lens Birds of New Zealand which APP
peals to ornithologsts there have been
published figures of the birds in books
intended for the general public. Unfor-
tunately. the bones of these two exam
pies were not preserved. so that our ma
tional collection is without a skeleton.
though there is one. the skull of which
! Is imperfect, in Dresden, and another In
Dunedin Museum.
The rediscovery of the bird may per-
| haps. give rise to hopes, scarcely likely
to be realized, of the retention of this
form for some time longer in the New
Zealand avifauna. From the nature of
the case, it seems hardly possible to adopt
measures of protection for the few strag-
slers that may yet survive, though the
| legislators and scientific men at the an
tipodes should be able to take such meas
| ures as will insure the utilization to the
full OF all material that may come to
| hand
| The colony has a right to be first serv-
| ed, but the claims of the British Museum
must not be lost sight Of so that, when
| the opportunity occurs, the skins in that
| institution may be supplemented by skele
i tons. Much has happened with regard to
| museum management since the specimen
| put up at Stevens rooms was bought for
| the Dresden Museum-a fact almost as
much TO be deplored as that the unique
specimen of the white-winged sandpiper.
| discovered by Cook on his last voyage,
| should find its resting place at Leyden.
From South America comes still strans
| er news-the confirmation of the long
rumored discovery of a living representa-
| tive OF the gigantic ground-sloth. Some
| years ago a collector named Ramon Lista
| reported to DR.. Ameghino, of Buenos
| Ayres, that he had seen and shot at a
mysterious animal in the interior of Santa
In he nj he r
| gentine territory.
| According to his description, the animal
| in size and shape resembled pangolin-
the scaly ant-eaterf Of the Old Word-but
was without scales and covered with red
| dish hair. He was confident that he had
hit the creature, which seemed proof
against his bullet and disappeared into
the thick brushwood, where long and
| careful search proved Intellectual.
The collector was known to be a COM
petent naturalist, good observer. and
trustworthy man. Nevertheless, the tale
seemed so extraordinary that DIR. Ame-
Chino felt sure that Lista had been in
some way mistaken Yet the correctness
| of his observations has now been COM
pletely vindicated, for some remains of an
animal shot by Indians in Patagonia
have recently been sent TO DR.. Ameghino,
and these in his opinion. put the exist
| ence of this creature, hitherto unknown
to science. beyond doubt.
The skin has no scales, but embedded
| in it are bony plates comparable to those
| of the mylodon, one OF the gigantic
| groundsloths which, too bulky to be ar
| obreal, procured their food by supporting
| themselves on the hind limbs and tail.
/ and tearing down the branches of trees.
! The larger forms, which rivaled the ele-
| phant In size, became extinct in the Pleis-
| tocene period but in Tertiary times
| smaller form seems to have existed. jus
| tice has at last been done to the memory
of Lista, who died in exploring the PIE
! comayo for in naming this important
! find Neomylodon Listai DR. Ameghino
| has at once expressed his opinion as 10
/ its relationship, and commemorated the
only naturalist who has seen the creature
! in the flesh.