but I could not learn that any of the present generation had seen it. I
still considered the whole as an idle fable, but offered a large reward
to any who would catch me either the bird or its protector." These
offers procured the collection of a considerable number of fossil bones,
on which Mr Williams makes the following observations:--

"1. None of these bones have been found on the dry land, but are all of
them from the banks and beds of fresh-water rivers, buried only a little
distance in the mud.... All the streams are in immediate connexion with
hills of some altitude.

"2. This bird was in existence here at no very distant time, though not
in the memory of any of the inhabitants: for the bones are found in the
beds of the present streams, and do not appear to have been brought into
their present situation by the action of any violent rush of waters.

"3. They existed in considerable numbers,--(an observation which has
since been abundantly confirmed.)

"4. It may be inferred that this bird was long-lived, and that it was
many years before it attained its full size. (The writer grounds this
inference on the disparity in dimensions of the corresponding bones,
supposing that they all belonged to one and the same species; which,
however, was an erroneous assumption.)

"5. The greatest height of the bird was probably not less than fourteen
or sixteen feet. The leg-bones now sent give the height of six feet to
the root of the tail.

"Within the last few days I have obtained a piece of information worthy
of notice. Happening to speak to an American about these bones, he told
me that the bird is still in existence in the neighbourhood of Cloudy
Bay, in Cook's Straits. He said that the natives there had mentioned to
an Englishman belonging to a whaling party, that there was a bird of
extraordinary size to be seen only at night, on the side of a hill near
the place, and that he, with a native and a second Englishman, went to
the spot; that, after waiting some time, they saw the creature at a
little distance, which they describe as being about fourteen or sixteen
feet high. One of the men proposed to go nearer and shoot, but his
companion was so exceedingly terrified, or perhaps both of them, that
they were satisfied with looking at the bird, when, after a little time,
it took the alarm, and strode off up the side of the mountain.

"This incident might not have been worth mentioning, had it not been for
the extraor