Abstract
THE ralline genus Notornis was established by Sir Richard Owen in 1843 upon a series of bones sent him from New Zealand by the late Mr. Walter Mantell, in one of the earlier consignments of Moa bones discovered in the sand-dunes where the Maoris feasted. Owen designated his type species Notornis Mantelli. In the course of determining a collection of ornithological remains from turbaries, caves and kitchen middens from New Zealand and the Chatham Islands, containing many relics of those birds, I was bewildered, a few days ago, by discovering that this long-established genus had been boldly superseded by Messrs. Mathews and Iredale in their beautiful work on the “ Birds of Australia,” by the new generic designation, Mantellornis—one of the numerous topsyturvies their volumes contain.
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FORBES, H. The Ralline Genus Notornis, Owen. Nature 112, 762 (1923). https://doi.org/10.1038/112762a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/112762a0
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