Notornis

A prominent broadcast speaker on wild life made a statement recently that many of the details of the life history of Notornis were still unknown. This is, perhaps true of some aspects but certainly not true as the speaker claimed in respect to details of egg, nest and young chick, all of which were seen by the official party in January last. These findings have been published by Falla in the “Emu,” Vol. 48, 1949 to which journal the reader is referred for a full account should he desire further information.

Another point mentioned by Dr. Falla is on the nomenclature. Today the bird seems to be known as Notornis hochstetteri. The description of the living bird included a few small differences from the sub-fossil remains which have been named Notornis mantelli. Whether the species are really separable remains to be decided.