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Notornis, nō-tor′nis, n. a genus of gigantic ralline birds, with wings so much reduced as to be incapable of flight, which have within historical times become extinct in New Zealand, &c.

Certain large pachydermatous and other animals, such as the fossil elephant, the mastodon, the megatherium, the mylodon, the megalonyx, the glyptodon, the fossil horse, ox, deer, &c., also nine or ten species of huge birds—the dinornis, the palapteryx, aptornis, notornis, and nestor of New Zealand, the dodo of Mauritius and Bourbon, and the pezohaps or solitaire of Rodriguez,—have ceased to exist since the tertiary period; some of them—the birds, for instance—since man’s creation.

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.

Rallidae present the very noteworthy woodhens, Ocydromus, and the takahe, Notornis, which is almost extinct.

Notornis, New Zealand, flightless, nearly extinct.