New Zealand has also yielded many flightless birds, notably the numerous species and genera of Dinornithidae, some of which survived into the 19th century; Pseudapteryx allied to the Kiwi; Cnemiornis, a big, flightless goose; Aptornis and Notornis, flightless rails; and Harpagornis, a truly gigantic bird of prey with tremendous wings and talons.
The Rallidae present the very noteworthy woodhens, Ocydromus, and the takahe, Notornis, which is almost extinct.
Notornis, New Zealand, flightless, nearly extinct.
Configuration of the palate, precoracoid, pelvis, intestinal convolutions, copulatory organ, &c. Loss of the keel is co-ordinated with the power of using the forelimbs for locomotion; although a " Ratite " character, it is not sufficient to turn a Notornis, Cnemiornis or Stringops, not even a Phororhacos into a member of the Ratitae.
Xlii., xliii.); but the supposed sternum afterwards proved not to be that of Notornis, and Owen (Proc. 1882, p. 689) rectified the error, to which his attention had been drawn, and which he had already suspected (Trans.
