Front matter (continued 2)

It has long been a question whether Nestor productus of Gould and Nestor norfolcensis of Pelzeln were really distinct or only individual varieties of one species. I had for a long time considered them to be merely individual varieties, for I could not persuade myself that a small island like Philip Island, almost contiguous to Norfolk Island, could have a different species of Nestor to that found on the larger island. Since commencing to write this book, however, I have come to somewhat different conclusions. In the first place no special locality is given for N. productus by the earlier authors, in the same way as in the case of Notornis alba, which, like the Nestor, was said to come from N. S. Wales. This fact is easily explained, as N. S. Wales and Norfolk Island were both penal settlements in the early days, and there was intercourse by regular vessels plying between these colonies and Lord Howe's Island. Now we find in the case of several other birds that distinct local forms occur on Norfolk and Lord Howe's Islands, while as far as I know there is no other record of a distinct bird from Philip Island. I therefore believe that Nestor productus inhabited both Norfolk and Philip Islands, and that all specimens extant are from Philip Island, where it lingered some years longer than on the main island, while the specimens of Ferdinand Bauer and Governor Hunter, and possibly the supposed N. norfolcensis of Canon Tristram's collection, now in Liverpool, had been brought from Lord Howe's Island in cages and were kept as pets in Norfolk Island; and then, as the value of exact data in those early days of our science was unknown, the references were made to the place whence the specimens were seen or brought. One thing however is certain, the bill in Ferdinand Bauer's sketch is evidently a monstrous growth produced by captivity, for Latham expressly describes the bill of Governor Hunter's bird as ending in a long thin point. The differences of N. norfolcensis are the dull crimson sides of face, chin, and throat; dull green head and hind neck, and the total absence of bars on the tail. The plate given herewith is a reproduction of the Liverpool bird, with the bill of Ferdinand Bauer's sketch added, as this is wanting in that bird, and in the corner a head of the specimen of N. productus, purchased for the Tring Museum, when the late Mr. Wallace's Museum at Distington, Cumberland, was dispersed.

I have carefully examined the three fine specimens of Nestor productus in the British Museum, and the conclusion I have come to is that the bird described by Gould as the adult of his N. productus was an abnormal specimen, and was in relation to normal N. productus what the aberrations called "superbus" and "esslingi" are to N. meridionalis. The bills of the British Museum specimens are very different. The one from the Bell collection has the long, thin bill, but it is at least half-an-inch to three-quarters shorter than those in the Tring and Florence specimens.

Habitat: Philip Island and probably Norfolk Island.

One in Tring, three in London, one in Florence, two in Vienna, one in Prague, two in Leyden, one in Amsterdam, are known to me.

The two specimens in the Vienna Museum were both bought in 1839. One from Ward, with a short bill, brown chest and throat, and a very wide yellow breast-band. The other from Baron von Hügel, which has a long bill and very red cheeks and chin.

NESTOR NORFOLCENSIS PELZELN.

(Plate 6, full figure.)

Long-billed Parrakeet Latham, Gen. Hist. II, p. 171 (1822).

Nestor norfolcensis Pelzeln, Sitzb. k. Akad. Wiss. XLI, pp. 322-325, pl.—(1860—detailed description from the manuscript of the late botanist, Ferdinand Lucas Bauer, and figure of head with an evidently abnormally developed bill. The specimen was from Norfolk Island; it had disappeared before Pelzeln's time).

Latham's original description is as follows: "Length above 12 inches. Bill very long and curved, thick halfway from the base, but tapering quite to a point at the tip, and under mandible truncated at the end, colour of both, dusky; head and neck dull green; sides under the eyes, chin and throat pale crimson; upper parts of the body, wings and tail dusky; breast yellowish; belly, thighs and vent more or less crimson; tail cuneiform; legs brown."

"One of these was in possession of Governor Hunter, who brought it from Norfolk Island; from the bill it seems related to the other, but the tail is cuneiform in a much greater degree, without any bars across it."

The only bird of this species extant is the one in Liverpool, from the Tristram collection.

Governor Hunter's specimen and Bauer's bird were both brought from Norfolk Island, but as they were cage-birds, and differed so markedly from N. productus, I, for reasons given under N. productus, believe this bird came from Lord Howe's Island.

Habitat: Lord Howe's Island (?).

LOPHOPSITTACUS NEWTON.

The huge bill and peculiar shaped crest, together with the—apparently, i.e., if the figure is correct—very short wings are characteristic of this genus. (P.Z.S. 1875, p. 350.)

LOPHOPSITTACUS MAURITIANUS (OWEN).

(Plate 7.)

Broad-billed Parrot Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. VI, p. 53 (1866).

Psittacus mauritianus Owen, Ibis, p. 168 (1866).

Psittacus (Lophopsittacus) mauritianus A. Newton, P.Z.S. (1875), pp. 349, 350.

Lophopsittacus mauritianus Newton, Enc. Brit. (ed. 9) III, p. 732, ff. 44, 46 (1875).

This extraordinary parrot was first described and made known to science by Professor Owen in 1866. He described it from 2 lower mandibles, much damaged, which were dug up from the Mare aux Songes. Except a few further osseous remains, mostly collected by Sir Edward Newton, nothing more of importance was found relating to this bird till Professor Schlegel discovered in the Library of Utrecht the manuscript journal kept during the voyage to Mauritius in A.D. 1601-1602 of Wolphart Harmanszoon, in which among other items of natural history there is a sketch of Lophopsittacus from life, and the statement that it was wholly of a grey-blue colour. From the fact that this bird is not mentioned by the voyagers who visited Mauritius in the 2nd and 3rd decades of the 18th century, it is probable that it was one of the first of the Mascarene birds to become extinct. This is easily understood when we consider that the bird was apparently unable to fly, and would like all big parrots prove excellent eating.

Only known from osseous remains and the above-quoted drawing and notes.

35 tarsi and tibiae, and 60 complete and incomplete lower mandibles and fragments of palatine bones in the Tring Museum.

Habitat: Mauritius.

ARA TRICOLOR BECHST.

(Plate 10.)

Le petit Ara D'Aubenton, Pl. Enl. 641.

L'Ara tricolor Levaill., Perr. I p. 17, pl. 5 (1801).

Psittacus tricolor Bechst., Kurze Ueb. p. 64, pl. I (1811).

Sittace? lichtensteini Wagl., fide Bp., Naumannia 1856, Consp. Psitt.

Bechstein's description, taken from Levaillant, is (translated) as follows: "This Aras, which others have held to be only a variety of Macao, is according to Vaillant a distinct species. It is one third smaller than the red-fronted species, or 1 ft. 10 in. long, of which the tail takes 11 inches and the bill 18 lines. The latter is of a black colour and has the upper mandible less curved, and the sides of the lower mandible more swollen than is the case in the other Ara species. The cheeks are naked and white, with three lines of red feathers. Head, front and sides of the neck, breast, belly and thighs red; back of the neck pale yellow; back, shoulders and smaller wing coverts brownish red bordered with yellow or green; flanks yellowish, primaries above dark azure blue, below coppery red. Crissum violet blue, undertail coverts pale blue with green and brown-red borders; under-wing coverts red, the larger yellow, and brownish green. Two centre tail feathers all red with blue tips, the outer ones blue on outer webs and tips, red on the rest of the feather."

Of this bird I know only of two in the British Museum, one in Paris, one in Leyden, one in Liverpool. The specimen in the Paris Museum bears the inscription "Macrocercus tricolor (Bechst.) M. E. Rosseau. Cuba. Ménagerie 1842." Probably, however, there are more specimens in other museums.

Apparently the last specimen was shot in 1864 at La Vega (Bangs, Americ. Nat. XXXIX, p. 200).

Like all the extinct West Indian Macaws, Amazons and Conures, it became extinct through its persecution by the inhabitants for food.

Habitat: Formerly Cuba and Isle of Pines.

ARA GOSSEI ROTHSCH.

(Plate 11.)

Yellow-headed Macaw Gosse, Birds of Jamaica, p. 260 (1847).

Ara gossei Rothsch., Bull. B.O.C., XVI, p. 14 (1905); Proc. IV, Orn. Congr., p. 201 (1907).

Ara tricolor (non Bechstein) Clark, Auk 1905, p. 348.

Mr. Gosse's description is as follows:—"Basal half of upper mandible black; apical half, ash coloured; lower mandible, black, tip only ash coloured; forehead, crown, and back of neck, bright yellow; sides of face, around eyes, anterior and lateral parts of the neck, and back, a fine scarlet; wing coverts and breast deep sanguine red; winglet and primaries an elegant light blue. The legs and feet are said to have been black; the tail, red and yellow intermixed (Rob.)"

Mr. Gosse also remarks, "If this is not the tricolor of Le Vaillant, which is the only Macaw I am aware of marked with a yellow nape, it is probably new."

In spite of the evident differences in the description, the Jamaican Ara has always been united with the Cuban A. tricolor, even as lately as October, 1905, by Mr. Austin H. Clark (Auk, 1905, p. 348), though he queries it in a footnote. The specimen described by Dr. Robinson, here quoted by Gosse, was shot about 1765, by Mr. Odell, in the mountains of Hanover parish, about ten miles east of Lucea.

Habitat: Jamaica.

The specimen described no longer exists, and there are none in any collection known.

There was a third member of the tricolor group of Macaws found on the large island of Haiti, which Mr. Clark has also united under A. tricolor, but I believe it must have been different, just as the Jamaica bird.

ARA ERYTHROCEPHALA ROTHSCH.

(Plate 12.)

Ara militaris Gosse, Birds of Jamaica, p. 261 (1847).

Ara erythrocephala Rothsch., Bull. B.O.C., XVI, p. 14 (1905); Proc. IV Orn. Congr., p. 201 (1907).

Gosse says the description given to him in a letter, just received from Mr. Hill, was as follows:—"Head red; neck, shoulders, and underparts of a light and lively green; the greater wing coverts and quills, blue; and the tail scarlet and blue on the upper surface, with the under plumage, both of wings and tail, a mass of intense orange yellow."

"The specimen here described was procured in the mountains of Trelawny and St. Anne's by Mr. White, proprietor of the Oxford estate." No specimen now known.

Habitat: Jamaica.

Mr. Gosse also relates that the Rev. Mr. Coward, in 1842, saw two large Macaws flying near the foot of the mountains in the parish of St. James, near the centre of the island. These birds were said to have been blue and yellow; if so, probably they were my Ara erythrura, whose precise island home is unknown.

ARA MARTINICUS (ROTHSCH.)

(Plate 14.)

Les Aras Père Bouton, Rel. de l'étab. d. Français dep. 1635, en l'ile Martinique pp. 71. 72 (1640).

Anadorhynchus martinicus Rothsch. Bull. B.O.C. XVI, p. 14 (1905); Proc. IV Orn. Congr., p. 202 (1907).

Père Bouton says, "Les Aras sont deux ou trois fois gros comme les Perroquets et ont un plumage bien différent en couleur. Ceux que j'ai vus avaient les plumes leleucs et orangées."

No specimen preserved.

Habitat: Martinique.

ARA GUADALOUPENSIS CLARK.

Les Arras Du Tertre, Hist. gen. des Antilles Vol. II p. 248 (1667).

Ara Rouge D'Aubenton, Pl. Enl. 12 (1779).

Ara guadaloupensis Clark, Auk, XXII, p. 272 (1905).

Du Tertre gives the following description:—"The Arras is a sort of Parrot bigger than all the others. This is proved because those of Guadaloupe are larger than all the other Parrots, both those from the Islands as well as from the Mainland; while this Arras is larger than these by one third. It has the head, the neck, the belly and the back of the colour of fire; its wings are a mixture of yellow azure, and crimson feathers; while the tail is entirely red and a foot-and-a-half long."

Macaws of this colouration are mentioned by Du Tertre, De Rochefort, and others of the older authors as being found on Guadaloupe, Dominica and Martinique, and Mr. Clark has united them under one name. This I feel sure is wrong, and I believe each of the three islands had a distinct species of Red Macaw, so I confine this name to the Guadaloupe form.

Habitat: Guadaloupe.

No specimen existing.

ARA ERYTHRURA NOM. NOV.

(Plate 15.)

De Rochefort, Histoire Nat. & Mor. des Iles Antilles, &c. (1658), p. 154, Art. IX (Des Arras).

Anadorhynchus coeruleus (non Gmelin) Rothsch., Bull. B.O.C., XVI, p. 15 (1905).

In the Bull. B.O.C. XVI, p. 15 (1905), I unfortunately described this bird under the name of Anadorhynchus coeruleus (Gm.), having misread his description, and also said it came from Jamaica. Professor Salvadori, in the Ibis (1906) Series 8, Vol. VI, "Notes on Parrots," p. 451, calls attention to my double error, but failed entirely to realise what bird I really meant. The original description is (translated) as follows:—

"Among them are some which have the head, the upper side of the neck, and the back of a satiny sky blue; the underside of the neck, the belly, and undersurface of the wings, yellow, and the tail entirely red."

No specimen existing.

Habitat: One of the West Indian Islands.

ANODORHYNCHUS PURPURASCENS ROTHSCH.

(Plate 13.)

Le gros Perroquet de la Guadaloupe Don de Navarette, Rel. Quat. voy. Christ. p. 425 pl. II (1838).

Anadorhynchus purpurascens Rothsch. Bull. B.O.C. XVI, p. 13 (1905); Proc. IV Orn. Congr., p. 202 (1907).

The original description of this bird says it was entirely deep violet. Native name Oné couli. No specimen extant. I have placed this species in the genus Anodorhynchus on account of its uniform bluish colour.

Habitat: Guadaloupe.

AMAZONA VIOLACEUS (GM.)

(Plate 17.)

Perroquet de la Guadeloupe Du Tertre, Hist. Nat. Antill. II, p. 250, fig. p. 246 (1667).

Perroquets Labat, Voy. aux iles de l'Amér., vol. II p. 214 (1742).

Psittacus violaceus Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, p. 337 (1788).

Labat's translated original description is as follows:—"Those of Guadaloupe are a little smaller than the Aras; they have the head, the neck, and the belly slate colour with a few green and black feathers, the back is entirely green, and the wings are yellow and red."

Gmelin's description reads thus:—"Ps. violaceus viridi et nigro admisto varius, dorso ex fusco viridi, remigibus majoribus nigris, reliquis ex luteo, viridi, et rubro variis, tectricum macula rosea. Rostrum et orbitae incarnata."

Du Tertre's description is as follows:—"He is about as big as a fowl, has the beak and eyes bordered with red. All the feathers of the head, neck and belly are of a violet colour, a little mixed with black and green, shot like the throat of a pigeon. All the upper part of the back is green, strongly washed with brown. Outer primaries black, rest yellow, green and red."

No specimens in collections.

Habitat: Guadaloupe.

AMAZONA MARTINICANA CLARK.

(Plate 18.)

Perroquets Labat's Voy. aux iles de l'Amér. II p. 214 (1742).

Amazona martinicana Clark, Auk. XXII, p. 343 (1905).

Labat's description reads thus:—"Those of Dominica have some red feathers on the wings, under the throat, and in the tail; all the rest is green (Amazona bouqueti, W.R.). Those of Martinique have the same plumage as the last mentioned, but the top of the head is slate colour with a small amount of red."

No specimen now known.

Habitat: Martinique.

CONURUS LABATI ROTHSCH.

(Plate 16.)

Perriques Labat, Voy. aux iles de l'Amér. II p. 218 (1742).

Conurus labati Rothsch. Bull. B.O.C. XVI, p. 13 (1905); Proc. IV Orn. Congr., p. 202 (1907).

Labat's translated description of this bird is as follows:—"Those of Guadaloupe are about the size of a blackbird, entirely green, except a few small red feathers, which they have on their head. Their bill is white. They are very gentle, loving, and learn to speak easily."

No specimens known.

Habitat: Island of Guadaloupe.

NECROPSITTACUS MILNE-EDW.

Necropsittacus Milne-Edwards, Ann. Sc. Nat. (5) XIX, Art. 3, p. 18 (1874).

Milne-Edwards considered Necropsittacus closely allied to the genus Palaeornis, and at the same time to show affinities with the Loriidae. At the same time the two mandibles were sufficient, in his opinion, to show that this bird belonged to a little generic group standing near Palaeornis.

NECROPSITTACUS RODRICANUS (MILNE-EDW.)

Psittacus Rodricanus A. Milne-Edw., Ann. Sc. Nat. (5) VIII, pp. 151-155, pl. 7, ff. 1, 2 (1867).

Necropsittacus rodericanus A. Newt., P.Z.S. p. 41 (1875).

This parrot was described from a portion of the upper mandible by Professor Milne-Edwards, and then was more fully described by Dr. Günther and Sir Edward Newton, who examined a nearly complete skull and other bones.

A manuscript discovered in the Archives of the Ministry of Marine in Paris proves that this bird only became extinct at a not very distant date, it having been seen alive by the writer of the manuscript about the year 1731. In this manuscript the bird was said to have a body considerably larger than a pigeon, with a very long tail and a very large head and bill. Unfortunately the writer does not mention the colour, but adds that the smaller green and blue parrot (Palaeornis exsul) was much handsomer; so we can safely assume that our bird was of sombre colouration. It was undoubtedly closely allied to the genus Palaeornis. The two following, though much brighter coloured and but scantily described, apparently belong to the same genus.

Habitat: Rodriguez.

NECROPSITTACUS(?) BORBONICUS NOM. NOV.

(Plate 8.)

This parrot is described by the Sieur D.B. (Dubois) in the following terms:—"Body the size of a large pigeon, green; head, tail and upper part of wings the colour of fire." As he compares it with the other parrots which are true Palaeornis, it is evident that this bird must have been a Necropsittacus.

This description is the sole evidence we have of the existence of this bird.

Habitat: Bourbon or Réunion.

NECROPSITTACUS(?) FRANCICUS ROTHSCH.

Necropsittacus francicus Rothsch., Proceedings Int. Ornith. Congress 1905, p. 197 (1907).

Original description:—"Head and tail fiery red, rest of body and wings green." We only know this bird from the descriptions in the various "Voyages" to Mauritius in the 17th and early 18th centuries.

Habitat: Mauritius.

MASCARINUS LESSON.

Mascarinus Lesson, Traité d'Orn. p. 188 (1831—A mixture of forms. By elimination the name Mascarinus has been restricted to the Mascarine Parrot).

The generic affinities of this bird have been discussed by various authors. Wagler, Gray, Pelzeln, Hartlaub (1877) and Messrs. A. and E. Newton united it with the Vaza Parrots in the genus Coracopsis, Finsch included it, together with the Vazas and the Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus), in the genus Psittacus. Recent authors—Oustalet 1893, W. A. Forbes 1879, and Salvadori (Cat. B. XX, p. 421, 1891)—have admitted a separate genus, Mascarinus. This is evidently the proper course, and I agree with W. A. Forbes, Oustalet and Salvadori that its nearest affinities appear to be the genus Tanygnathus rather than Coracopsis, and that the place of Mascarinus is among the Palaeornithinae of Salvadori.

The large red bill, with distinctly ridged gonys, concealed nostrils and moderately long, strongly rounded tail, are peculiar characters. The colouration is unique. Only one species is known.

MASCARINUS MASCARINUS (L.)

MASCARINE PARROT.

(Plate 9.)

"Perroquets un peu plus gros que pigeons, ayant le plumage de couleur de petit gris, un chaperon noir sur la teste, le becq fort gros, & couleur de feu" Le Sieur D.B, (Dubois), Voyages aux Iles Dauphine ou Madagascar, et Bourbon ou Mascarenne. p. 172 (1674—"Bourbon ou Mascarenne").

Psittacus Mascarinus Brisson, Orn. IV., p. 315 (1760); Hahn, Orn. Atlas, Papageien p. 54, pl. 39 (1835).

Psittacus mascarin. Linnaeus, Mantissa Plantarum, regni animalis appendix p. 524 (1771—"Habitat in Mascarina." Ex Brisson).

Perroquet Mascarin Levaillant, Perroquets II, p. 171, pl. 189 (1805—"Madagascar," errore).

Mascarinus madagascariensis Lesson, Traité d'Orn, p. 189 (1831—"Madagascar," ex Levaillant).

Coracopsis mascarina Wagler, Mon. Psittac. p. 679 (1832); Pelzeln, Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien 1863, p. 934.

Mascarinus obscurus (non Psittacus obscurus L.) Bonaparte, Rev. & Mag. de Zool. 1854 p. 154 (Linnaeus, Psittacus obscurus—Syst. Nat. Ed. X, p. 97, 1758, ex Hasselquist M.S.—though identified by himself with the Mascarine Parrot in 1766—Syst. Nat. Ed. XII, I, p. 140—cannot be the same as P. mascarinus; the description disagrees entirely, and the bird was described from a specimen probably seen alive by Hasselquist, with uncertain locality. What Linnaeus' P. obscurus was, is difficult to say; if it was not for the long tail, one might consider it a variety of the Grey Parrot).

Psittacus madagascarensis Finsch, Papageien II pp. 306, 955 (1868—Finsch was not acquainted with the history of this Parrot, as he still considered Madagascar to be its home, and wondered why it had not been found there by recent collectors).

Psittacus madagascariensis Pelzeln, Ibis 1873, p. 32.

Mascarinus duboisi W. A. Forbes, Ibis 1879, pp. 304, 305 (figures), 306; Milne-Edwards & Oustalet, Centenaire Mus. d'Hist. Nat. pp. 191-205, pl. I (1893—excellent lengthy account).

Mascarinus mascarinus Salvadori, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XX, p. 421 (1891—Réunion).

It has been mentioned above that "Le Sieur D.B." (Dubois) described this Parrot clearly in 1674, and that it lived on Réunion, and not on Madagascar. Linnaeus in 1771 (see above) was the first to bestow a scientific name on it, though Brisson had already again described it in 1760. Linnaeus' diagnosis is, as usual, rather poor, and not quite correct^[1], but his reference to Brisson leaves no doubt as to what he meant.

This parrot is one of the rarest of extinct birds, only two stuffed specimens being known. One normally coloured specimen is preserved in the Museum of Natural History in Paris, and it is evidently this which has been figured by Daubenton and Levaillant, and in the "Centenaire du Muséum d'Historie Naturelle." From the latter plate my figure has been taken.

The example in Vienna is unfortunately semi-albinistic, there being some white feathers on the back, wings and tail. Another normal individual, however, lived formerly in the Menagerie of the King of Bavaria, where it was depicted by Hahn in 1835. Unfortunately this specimen has not been preserved.

PALAEORNIS EXSUL NEWTON.

(Plate 19.)

Palaeornis exsul A. Newton, Ibis 1872, p. 33.

Leguat was the first to mention these parrots as "Perroquets verds et bleus," and that they were wonderfully good to eat and also delightful pets.

Professor Newton's description is as follows: "Female: Of moderate size. General appearance greyish-glaucous, darker above than beneath. From the corner of the mouth proceeds an ill-defined dull black chin stripe, which becomes broader as it passes backward and upward, ceasing somewhat abruptly on reaching the level of the ears. Head, nape and shoulders, upper wing-coverts, and rectrices above dull greyish-glaucous, the blue tinge in which predominates when the bird is seen against the light, and the green when seen in the contrary aspect; the outer rectrices paler. Rump verditer blue. Primaries with their outer, and most part of their inner, webs deep greenish blue, the former with narrow, lighter edges, and the latter broadly bordered with pitch black; shafts and lower surfaces greyish black. Secondaries much the same as the primaries, but of a still deeper shade. Breast dull greyish-glaucous, but lighter than the upper parts and passing on the belly into verditer, which becomes lighter and greener on the vent. Rectrices beneath yellowish grey, darker toward the tips of the longer feathers. Bill black."

The specimen was sent in spirits to Sir Edward Newton in 1871 by Mr. Jenner, the Magistrate of Rodriguez.

The male differs from the female in having the upper mandible crimson, fading into horn at the tip. Top of head more glaucous. Black stripe from nostril to eye. Black chin stripe prolonged almost to meet on nape of neck. Most of primaries with dull black patch on inner webs. Middle secondaries dusky black.

The male was sent to Sir Edward Newton in 1875 by Mr. J. Caldwell.

Total length 16.5inches.

Wing 07.5in "

Tail 08.5in "

Probably almost if not quite extinct. Recent investigations about its status are very desirable.

Habitat: Rodriguez Island.

PALAEORNIS WARDI E. NEWTON.

(Plate 20.)

Palaeornis wardi E. Newton, P.Z.S. 1867, p. 346 (Seychelles).

The translation of Sir Edward Newton's diagnosis is as follows: "Similar to P. alexandri, but with a stouter bill, purple red shoulder patches, and the hind neck without a red band.

"Adult Male. Crown of head and throat bluish, cheeks ochraceous green, chin and line round base of mandible black, continued in a stripe from the gape to the hind neck; back and wings grass green; rump brighter; a single wide band (or patch) on the shoulders purplish red; remiges and rectrices deep green washed with blue, the latter yellowish, the former dusky below; belly yellowish green; bill vivid scarlet with paler tip; feet dusky. Total length 16 inches, wings 7.75, tail 9."

Female similar to the male but duller, and with the bill all black, and without the black mandibular stripe.

Formerly abundant on most of the islands in the Seychelles, especially Mahé, but now confined to the little islet of Silhouette, where it will in all probability become extinct. According to E. Newton its name was "Cateau vert."

Habitat: Seychelles Islands.

PALAEORNIS EQUES (BODD).

Psittaca borbonica torquata Briss., Orn. IV p. 328, pl. XXVII f. 1 (1760). (Bourbon.)

Psittacus alexandri var. γ Linnaeus, S.N. p. 142 (1766).

Perruche à collier de l'Isle de Bourbon Daubenton, Pl. enl. 215.

Perruche à double collier Buff., Hist. Nat. Ois. VI, p. 143 (1779).

Alexandrine Parrakeet var. C. Double Ringed Parrakeet Latham, Syn. I p. 326 (1781).

Psittacus eques Boddaert, Tabl. Pl. Enl. p. 13 (1783).

Psittacus semirostris Hermann, Obs. Zool. p. 125 (1804).

Psittacus bitorquatus Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. p. 92 (1820).

Rose Ringed Parrakeet var. B. Latham, Gen. Hist. II p. 161 (1822).

Psittacus bicollaris Vieillot, Enc. Meth. III p. 1385 (1823).

Palaeornis bitorquatus Vigors, Zool. Journ. II p. 51 (1825).

Palaeornis borbonicus Bp., Rev. and Mag. Zool. 1854, p. 152. No. 140.

There has been considerable confusion with regard to this parrot. It was first asserted that it occurred on both Bourbon and Mauritius. Then Professor Newton separated the Mauritius bird as Pal. echo. Salvadori, however, in Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. XX, p. 442, reunited the Bourbon and Mauritius birds, while quite unaccountably stating only Mauritius as the habitat.

The Abbé Dubois describes this bird as follows: "Green Parrots as large as pigeons having a black collar."

Now the species of Palaeornis from Rodriguez, the Seychelles, and the mainland of Africa are all distinct, and the other land birds of Mauritius are and were different from those of Bourbon. I therefore feel quite certain that Professor Newton is right, and that his Palaeornis echo is distinct from P. eques, though, unfortunately, we do not know in which way the two forms differed.

Habitat: Bourbon or Réunion, but now extinct. No specimens known.

PALAEORNIS ECHO NEWTON.

Palaeornis echo Newton, Ibis 1876, p. 284.

Palaeornis eques Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. XX, p. 442 (1891).

Description of Male: Green, the occiput tinged with bluish; a narrow black stripe from the nostrils to the eyes; broad black mandibular stripes passing down and across the sides of the neck where they meet a pink collar, which is interrupted on the hind neck; under wing-coverts yellowish green; central tail feathers scarcely tinged with bluish; tail below dark yellowish grey; upper mandible red, under mandible almost black with only a brownish tinge in places. Iris yellow. Naked skin round eyes orange. Wing 7.5 inches, tail 8.75 inches, bill 9 inches. The female differs by the absence of the collar, no bluish tint on occiput, and the bill entirely blackish.

It differs from P. torquatus in the incomplete collar, darker green colour and broader tail feathers. This bird is still found in the interior of the island, but is rare and apparently on the verge of extinction.

Habitat: Mauritius.

Three specimens at Tring, four in the British Museum.

CYANORHAMPHUS ZEALANDICUS (LATHAM.)

Red Rumped Parrakeet Latham, Syn. I, p. 249, No. 50 (1781).

Psittacus novae seelandiae Gmelin (nec. Sparrm.), S.N. I, p. 328, No. 83 (1788).

Psittacus zealandicus Latham, Ind. Orn. I, p. 102, No. 58 (1790).

Psittacus novae-zealandiae Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. p. 44, var. 1 (1820).

Psittacus erythronotus Kuhl, Consp. Psitt. p. 45, No. 67 (1820).

Psittacus pacificus var. No. 3, Vieillot, Enc. Méth., p. 1387 (1823).

Platycercus pacificus, part. Vigors, Zool. Journ. I, p. 529 (1825).

Platycercus erythronotus Stephens, Gen. Zool. XIV., p. 129, No. 9 (1826).

Conurus phaeton Des Murs, Rev. Zool. 1845, p. 449.

Platycercus phaeton Des Murs, Icon. Orn. pl. 16 (1845).

Cyanorhamphus pacificus Bonaparte, Rev. et. Mag. 1854, p. 153, No. 184.

Cyanorhamphus erythronotus Gray, Hand-list II, p. 140, No. 8029 (1870).

Cyanorhamphus forsteri Finsch, Papag. II, p. 270 (1868).

This bird has received a variety of names owing to the adult bird being very different to the younger and quite young birds. Adult, forehead black; stripe from lores passing through eye almost to hind-neck scarlet; rump scarlet; back and breast dull green; cheeks, head, neck, belly, under-tail coverts and wing coverts, bright green. Flight-feathers blue on outer, brown on inner, webs; bend of wing blue; tail feathers blue, edged with green.

Young differs in having a dull bluish-black forehead, brownish head, back mixed brown and green, rump and eye stripe chestnut red, and the underside greyish green.

This species was confined to the Society Islands, where it was obtained during Cook's Voyage by Ellis and by Forster, and lastly by Lieutenant de Marolles in 1844. We only know for certain at the present day of the existence of two specimens, one in the British Museum, ex Massena collection, whose origin is doubtful, and one in Paris, collected by Lieutenant de Marolles. What became of the other two specimens of the latter's collecting, and of Forster's and Ellis' specimens, I cannot say.

Habitat: Society Islands.

Evidently extinct.

CYANORHAMPHUS ULIETANUS (GM.)

Society Parrot Latham, Syn. I p. 250 (1781).

Psittacus ulietanus Gmelin, S.N. I p. 328, n. 85 (1788).

Platycercus ulietanus Vig., Zool. I p. 533, Suppl. pl. 3 (1825).

Cyanorhamphus ulietanus Bonaparte, Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1854, p. 153, n. 188.

Platycercus tannaensis Finsch, Papag. II, p. 272 (1868).

Psittacus fuscatus Pelz., Ibis 1873, p. 30.

Adult: "Olive brown, the head brown-black; rump and basal upper tail-coverts brown-red, the longest upper tail-coverts olive brown like the back; underparts olive-yellow; quills, primary-coverts, under wing coverts and tail-feathers grey; bill black, base of upper mandible grey; feet brown." (Salvadori, Cat. B. XX p. 579). Wing 5.3 inches, bill 0.8 inches, tarsus 0.8 inches, tail 5 inches.

Habitat: Ulietea, Society Islands (fide Latham).

The type from the Leverian Museum is in Vienna, and a specimen from Bullock's collection is in the British Museum. These are the only two specimens known, and as it is now more than a hundred years since anyone has procured a specimen, we may suppose that this is an extinct species. The specimen in Vienna, which I have recently been able to examine, has the head, back, wings, and tail deep umber-brown, the rump dark-crimson, upper tail-coverts olive, underside brownish yellow.

CYANORHAMPHUS SUBFLAVESCENS SALVADORI.

Parrot from Lord Howe Island Phillips, Bot. Bay, p. 225 (1789).

Cyanorhamphus subflavescens Salvadori, Ann. & Mag. (6) VII, p. 68 (1891).

Very similar to C. cooki and C. saisseti and intermediate in size. Above more yellowish than C. saisseti, below more greenish, tail shorter than in either of the latter.

This species is believed to be extinct. Last year I received some specimens of a Cyanorhamphus from an inhabitant of Lord Howe's Island, but from subsequent letters these appear to have been collected on Norfolk or Philip Island, and they certainly are C. cooki.

Habitat: Lord Howe's Island.

A pair in the British Museum appear to be the only known specimens.

BUBO(?) LEGUATI NOM. NOV.

Strix sp. Milne-Edwards, Ann. Sci. Nat. (5) XIX p. 13 (art. 3.) 1874.

Milne-Edwards had only a single tibio-tarsus of this form and described this bone, but refrained from giving it a specific name, though he stated it was probably a small Bubo, in the hopes of getting more material.

As, however, we have no further specimens, I think I am justified in naming it after Leguat, who first mentions Owls on Rodriguez. Milne-Edwards' description of this tibio-tarsus is that it equals in length that bone in Asio accipitrinus, but was distinguished from the latter by the strong inward curvature and the great development in width of its distal extremity.

Tibio-tarsus.

Total length 77 mm.

Length from the proximal extremity to the top of the peronial ridge 25 "

Width at distal extremity 10.5 "

Width at proximal extremity 9 "

Width of shaft 3.7 "

Habitat: Rodriguez.

SCOPS COMMERSONI OUST.

Scops commersoni Oustalet, Ann. Sci. Nat. (8) III, p. 35 fig. 3 (1896).

This owl, I believe, is not a true Scops, being much too big, but we must leave it in that genus for the present, as there are no specimens or bones extant, and only Jossigny's drawing to guide us as to its appearance. The first mention of owls on Mauritius was in the year 1606, when Admiral Matlief says that owls were common in the Island. Monsieur Desjardins, in 1837, gave the first accurate description of the bird, of which I here reproduce the translation. "The digits and even the tarsi are not feathered, only on the front portion of these latter one sees some short, stiff feathers running down to a point nearly to the centre. The digits are very strong, they being armed with hooked nails.

The beak is very stout, arched from its base; the upper mandible, which is much longer than the other and covering it, is as if cut square at the point. The nostrils pierce the bill pretty high up in the horny portion. The eyes, of which I could not see the colour, are round, and placed, like in the entire family, in front. They are surrounded by a circle or disc of stiff, thread-like feathers, which is interrupted at the sides. A sort of collar is perceptible on the throat. Two tufts, similar to those of the Eagle Owls and Eared Owls, and very apparent, are behind the eyes and towards the top of the occiput.

The wings are a little longer than the tail, the fourth and fifth primaries being the longest, the third and sixth are shorter, and the second still shorter, being equal to the eighth, and the first is shortest of all. The tail reaches to the end of the digits; it is rounded and not much lengthened: all the retrices are equal in length. The ear-tufts are brown, with some slight buff shading, the discal plumes being white marked with buff. All the upper side is of a dark brown colour, the feathers of the head, the neck and the back are edged with rufous, but not very distinctly so; this rufous colour is more apparent on the scapulars, and some of these even have on the outer web one or two whitish patches surrounded with brown.

The large tail feathers are less brown and more rufous in colour, with lighter rufous marbling mixed with brown.

The tertials and secondaries have a darker brown bar towards the centre, and their outer web is pleasantly marked with somewhat square ocelli or irregular bands of white, pale buff, and brown. The large primaries or flight feathers present the same ornamentation, but more strongly developed, and the blotches are buffy white on the inner web, which produces a regular spotting on a brown ground colour; the tip of these large feathers is finely stippled with brown on a fairly pale ground; and there is a large patch of white on the wings in addition.

The throat and abdomen are nicely adorned with dark buff feathers, which have a black brown centre and two to four large round white spots. The large feathers on the flanks are whitish, with a brown shaft line and marked with buff. All the well feathered parts, underneath the feathers are covered by a very thick black down."

The colour of bill and feet is reddish brown. Total length, 13½ inches = 345 mm. Desjardins says the specimen he described was killed at the end of October, 1836, in the forest crowning the hills close to "Bamboo Creek." In 1837 several were still seen near "La Savane," and one was killed at Curepipe by Dr. Dobson of the 99th Regiment. This latter is believed to have been one of, if not the last of this species, so we have to thank that excellent naturalist, Desjardins, and Monsieur Jossigny, the companion of Commerson, that we know what this extinct species was like.

Habitat: Mauritius.

ATHENE MURIVORA MILNE-EDWARDS.

Strix (Athene) murivora Milne-Edwards, Ann. Sci. Nat. (5) XIX p. 13 (Art. 3.) (1874).

Professor Milne-Edwards described this bird from a tibio-tarsus and a tarso-metatarsus collected in Rodriguez by Sir Edward Newton, and says that he considers it to belong to the genus Athene, because the proportions of the tibio-tarsus and tarso-metatarsus agree with those of that genus. The most remarkable specific characters appear to be that the ridge to which the fibula is articulated is stout, and extends very far along the outer edge of the bone. The diaphysis is large and nearly straight; the distal extremity is furnished with two equal condyles separated by a deep channel.

Tibio-tarsus.

Total length 71 mm.

Length from proximal extremity to end of peronial ridge 25 "

Width of distal extremity 10 "

Width of proximal extremity 9 "

Width of shaft 4 "

Tarso-metatarsus.

Total length 46 mm.

Width at proximal extremity 10 "

Width at distal extremity 15 "

Width of shaft 5 "

Habitat: Rodriguez.

SCELOGLAUX RUFIFACIES BULLER.

Sceloglaux rufifacies Buller, Ibis 1904, p. 639; id. Suppl. B. New Zealand II, p. 65, pl. VII (1906).

Original description: "Adult female: Similar to Sceloglaux albifacies, but appreciably smaller; face dull rufous brown, instead of being white; crown and nape blackish brown; entire upper surface strongly suffused with rufous; quills marked with regular transverse bars and a terminal edging of rufous brown; tail-feathers uniform yellowish brown, obscurely barred with pale brown; bill lemon-yellow; feet dull yellow."

"Wairarapa district, near Wellington, North Island, in the summer 1868-9."

This supposed "species" is a very doubtful one. A close examination in the Tring Museum of the type (which was offered me for such a high price that I did not feel justified in buying it, fond as I am of possessing extinct forms, types and varieties) by Messrs. Hartert, Hellmayr and myself proved beyond doubt to all three of us that the specimen was not fully adult, but showed signs of immaturity. If I said to Sir Walter Buller that it was an extremely young, hardly fledged Sceloglaux this was certainly incorrect, and was perhaps just an exclamation after a hasty preliminary examination, for the bird is of course fully fledged and has passed, at least partially, through one moult of the feathers. On the other hand, both Professor Newton's and Dr. Sharpe's reputed statements that the owl in question is fully adult are not correct. It certainly shows unmistakable signs of immaturity, as noticed at once by Dr. Gadow (cf. Newton's letter on p. 66, l.c.), by Hartert, Hellmayr and myself. Moreover Professor Newton—though Buller says he "pronounced it to be an adult bird"—also admits that the bird "had moulted, though not necessarily to be in adult plumage," and he continues that he thinks the character of the markings continues to be juvenile.

Having thus discussed the age of this owl, the question must be considered if it is different from S. albifacies from the South Island. This is less easily done. Buller described it as a "new species," and mentions among the distinctive characters (see above) the colour of the tail. The tail, however, is "skillfully" (as Buller calls it, though I should use a less complimentary adverb) stuck in, and does not belong to a Sceloglaux, but to an Australian Ninox, and also some feathers on the neck are foreign. The wings being abraded, its slightly smaller length is not very significant. Certainly, however, the colouration in general is slightly more rufous than in S. albifacies, though some of my specimens approach it almost completely, and the face is more rufescent. Professor Newton cautiously warned Sir Walter Buller, suggesting that S. albifacies might possibly have a red "phase," like Syrnium aluco, and this North Island specimen represented the latter. As for myself, I do not think that S. albifacies has two phases, as I have seen too many specimens, and found them to vary but little. I have now in my collection eight specimens from the South Island. On the other hand, I have not seen juvenile examples; but it is very likely that the rufous face of the North Island specimen is a character peculiar to the North Island form, which would then be a sub-species of S. albifacies from the South Island, and should be called S. albifacies rufifacies. The type from Wairapara is said to have been killed in the summer of 1868-9, and, since no further evidence of its existence has come forth, I presume that the North Island race of this owl must be extinct by this time.

STRIX NEWTONI NOM. NOV.

Strix sp. Newton and Gadow, Trans. Zool. Soc. XIII, p. 287 (1893).

Messrs. Newton and Gadow give the measurements of, and describe a pair of metatarsi procured with the remains described as Strix sauzieri, and state that they do not fit in with that species. For, as they are fully adult bones, it is impossible to attribute their much smaller size to youth. They then add a sentence of which this is the first part: "Unless we assume, what is unlikely, that the Island of Mauritius possessed two different species of Strix, we have to conclude that the short pair of metatarsals belonged to a small individual of Strix sauzieri, ——." Evidently Messrs. Gadow and Newton, when they wrote this, did not remember the fact that throughout a very large portion of the range of Strix flammea, its various geographical races are found side by side with another species of the group of Strix, namely, S. candida and S. capensis, popularly called "Grass owls"; these in nearly every case have the legs considerably longer than in the true Barn Owls (Strix flammea and its races).

Therefore I consider it not in the least unlikely that two species of Strix inhabited Mauritius, and that Strix sauzieri was the Mauritian representative of the "Grass Owls," while these two short metatarsals belonged to the representative of the "Barn Owls." I therefore have much pleasure in naming this form after the collector of these bones, the late Sir Edward Newton.

Length of tarso-metatarsi, 56 mm.

Habitat: Mauritius.

STRIX SAUZIERI NEWT. & GAD.

Strix sauzieri Newton & Gadow, Trans. Zool. Soc. XIII, p. 286, pl. XXXIII, figs. 11-18 (1893).

Messrs. Newton and Gadow describe this species from four metatarsi, three tibiae, and two humeri. They state that the relative length of the tibia to the metatarsus is very constant and characteristic of the various families and genera of owls. In the present instance this comparison indicates a species of Strix.

The longer and higher cnemial process of the tibia and the shortness of the humerus serve amply to justify the specific separation of this Mauritian owl.

The following are the measurements:—

Humerus, length 71 mm.

Tibia-tarsus, length 90-93 "

Tarso-metatarsus, length 63-66 "

Habitat: Mauritius.

"CIRCUS HAMILTONI" FORBES.

Circus hamiltoni Forbes, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 186 (1892—no proper description).

A very large harrier, much larger than Circus gouldi, but not so big as Harpagornis.

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.

"CIRCUS TEAUTEENSIS" FORBES.

Circus teauteensis Forbes, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 186 (1892—no proper description).

Another very large harrier from Teaute, which has never yet been properly described.

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.

ASTUR ALPHONSI NEWT. & GAD.

Astur sp. Milne-Edwards, Ann. Sci. Nat. (5) XIX, Art. II, pp. 25, 26, pl. 15 fig. 2. (1874).

Astur alphonsi Newton and Gadow, Trans. Zool. Soc. XIII p. 285, pl. XXXIII, figs. 9, 10. (1893).

Messrs. Newton and Gadow bestowed the name Astur alphonsi on a pair of tibiae, a pair of metatarsals, and the metacarpals of the left side of a goshawk apparently of the same size and relative proportions as A. melanoleucus of South Africa. They justified their description of this goshawk as a distinct species, first of all by the fact that most of the Mascarene extinct species were distinct; and then because the bony ridge for the M. flexor digitorum communis was more strongly developed, the fibula reached further down the tibia, the peroneal crest was straighter and longer, and the cnemial crest slanted more gradually into the anterior inner edge of the shaft of the tibia.

Milne-Edwards gives the measurements of the solitary tarso-metatarsus of this bird which he had for examination as follows:—

Total length 80 mm.

Width at proximal extremity 11 "

Width at distal extremity 13 "

Width at smallest part of shaft 6 "

Messrs. Gadow and Newton give the length of their tarso-metatarsi as 81 mm., of their tibiae as 117 mm., and of the metacarpals as 55 mm.

Habitat: Mauritius.

Seven tarsi in the Tring Museum.

HARPAGORNIS HAAST.

Allied to Aquila, from which it is distinguished by the ulna being relatively shorter and the tarso-metatarsus stouter.

HARPAGORNIS MOOREI HAAST.

Harpagornis moorei Haast, Trans. N.Z. Inst. IV, p. 192 (1872).

Description of femur (from Haast): The cylindrical shaft bent forward, and above the distal extremity it is slightly curved back. The hollow on the top of the head is very large and measures .42 inch across.

The trochanteric ridge is well developed and the outer side is very rough, showing that muscles of great strength and thickness must have been attached to it.

The inter-muscular linear ridges are well raised above the shaft, of which the one extending from the fore and outer angle of the epitrochanteric articular surface to the outer condyle is the most prominent. The pits for the attachment of the ligaments in the inter-condyloid fossa are strongly marked. The femur is pneumatic, the proximal orifice is large and ear-shaped, resembling in form most closely that of the Australian Sea Eagle.

Total length 6.66 inches.

Circumference at proximal end 4.66 "

Circumference at distal end 5.58 "

Circumference at thinnest part of shaft 2.50 "

Ungual phalanx (probably of left hallux):

Length 2.92 inches.

Circumference at articular end 3.17 "

Ungual phalanx (probably of right second toe):

Length 2.75 inches.

Circumference 2.92 "

Type locality: Glenmark Swamp.

Habitat: New Zealand.

Type bones: 1 left femur, 2 ungual phalanges, and 1 rib.

For a more detailed description my readers must refer to the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute VI, pp. 64-75 (1874).

CARBO PERSPICILLATUS (PALL.)

(Plate 39.)

Phalacrocorax perspicillatus Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso.-Asiat. II, p. 305 (1827—Berings Island); Gould, Zool. Voy. Sulphur, p. 49, pl. XXXII (1844); Stejneger, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., No. 29, p. 180 (1885); id. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. XII, pp. 83-94, pls. II-IV (1889—Osteology); Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXVI, p. 357 (1898).

Graculus perspicillatus Elliot, New and heret. unfig. sp. N. Amer. B. II, part 14, No. 3, text and plate (1869).

Pallasicarbo perspicillatus Coues, Osprey III, p. 144 (1899).

Pallas gives the first recognizable description of this bird, which, as translated from the Latin, is as follows: "Of the size of a very large goose. Of the shape of the former (sc. Cormorants), which it also resembles in the white patches on the flanks. The body is entirely black. A few long, white, narrow pendant plumes round the neck, as in Herons. Occiput with a huge tuft, doubly crested. Skin round the base of the bill bare, red, blue and white, mixed, as in a turkey. Round the eyes a thick, bare white patch of skin, about six lines wide, like a pair of spectacles. Weight 12 to 14 pounds. Female smaller, without crest and spectacles. (From Steller.)"

Steller, who was shipwrecked on Bering Island in 1741, was the discoverer of C. perspicillatus, and Pallas took his diagnosis from Steller's notes.

The Spectacled or Pallas's Cormorant is one of the rarest of all birds. It is generally said that four specimens are known, but five are really in existence: Two in the St. Petersburg Museum, one in Leyden, and two in London. One of these latter is perfect, while the other has no tail. Probably all five have been obtained by Kuprianoff, the Russian Governor at Sitka, who, in 1839, gave one to Captain Belcher, and sent some others to St. Petersburg. The careful researches of Stejneger and others on Bering Island have clearly shown that this Cormorant exists no longer. Formerly it is said to have been numerous, but the natives were fond of its flesh, which formed their principal diet when other meat was difficult to obtain. Probably it would not so soon have become extinct if it had not been that their rather short wings resulted in a certain slowness of locomotion on land and in the air. A good description is given in the Catalogue of Birds, and a still more detailed one by Stejneger (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 1899, p. 86) from Brandt's manuscript.

Habitat: Bering Island.

CARBO MAJOR (FORBES).

Phalacrocorax novaezealandiae var. major Forbes, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 189 (1892—no proper description).

Dr. Forbes only informed us that this shag was of greater dimensions than Ph. novaezealandiae (a very closely allied form of Ph. carbo). It would be interesting to know more about it, and, especially, if this extinct form was incapable of flight, like Ph. harrisi of the Galápagos Islands.

Habitat: New Zealand.

PLOTUS NANUS NEWT. & GAD.

Plotus nanus Newton and Gadow, Trans. Zool. Soc. XIII p. 288, pl. XXXIV figs 1-5. (1893).

The humerus, the pelvis with sacrum, and the tibia were the materials on which our authors founded this new species. They state that all the strongly developed characters in these bones leave no possible doubt as to its being a species of Plotus, and its diminutive size at once distinguishes it from the three known species—P. anhinga, P. melanogaster, and P. novaehollandiae.

The measurements are as follows:—

Left humerus, length 89 mm.

Left tibia, length 61 "

Distance from acetabular axis to anterior end of sacrum 30 mm.

Distance between ventral inner margins of the acetabula 14.5 mm.

Habitat: Mauritius. (Also recorded from Madagascar.)

"CHENOPIS SUMNERENSIS" FORBES.

Chenopis sumnerensis Forbes, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 188 (1892) (Nomen nudum).

This appears to have been a very large species, with not very great powers of flight, if not flightless.

Habitat: New Zealand and Chatham Islands.

Bones from Chatham Islands in my collection.

CHENALOPEX SIRABENSIS ANDREWS.

Chenalopex sirabensis Andrews, Ibis 1897, p. 355, pl. IX, figs. 1-3.

This species of which skull, sternum, pelvis, the bones of fore and hind limbs, &c., are preserved, appears to be closely allied to Chenalopex aegyptiacus, but has such a number of small differences that Mr. Andrews is, I think, quite justified in separating it; I do not, however, agree with him when he suggests that perhaps it is the same as Newton and Gadow's Sarcidiornis mauritianus, although many of the bones agree. Of course, his line of comparison was strengthened by the fact of subfossil bones of Plotus nanus occurring both in Mauritius and Madagascar; but it does not follow that because in one family of birds the same species occurred in two places the others must do likewise, and, therefore, one must not necessarily regard a certain similarity of osteological characters as proof of identity. I must here again refer my readers to Mr. Andrews' very full description.

Habitat: Sirabé in C. Madagascar.

The measurements are:—

Coracoid 67-075 mm.

Humerus 132-147 "

Radius 126-134 "

Ulna 129-142 "

Metacarpus 76-085 "

The smaller bones, undoubtedly, belonged to female, and the larger to male individuals.

CENTRORNIS ANDREWS.

Allied to Chenalopex and Chenopis, but differs from Chenalopex in the form and proportion of its metatarsus, and from all other Anserine forms by the extreme length and slenderness of the shaft of the tibio-tarsus and the relative shortness of the fibular crest. From Chenopis it differs in several respects, and the very long fibular crest of the latter at once separates them.

CENTRORNIS MAJORI ANDREWS.

Centrornis majori Andrews, Ibis 1897, p. 344, pl. VIII.

This species was discovered by Dr. Forsyth Major and Monsieur Robert in the bed of an old lake at Sirabé, Central Madagascar, in 1896-1897. It was similar in many respects to Sarcidiornis and Chenalopex but differed in its large size and the great length of its legs. Indeed, judging from the slenderness of the metatarsus and femur and the slight degree of inflection of the lower end of the long tibia, it seems probable that this bird was ill adapted for swimming, though a good runner. The wings were long and powerful and armed with a long spur. I must refer my readers for a fuller description to Mr. Andrews, as quoted above.

The measurements are:—

Tibia.

Length (exclusive of cnemial crest) 213-215 mm.

Width of upper articular surface 20-021 "

Width of middle of shaft 11-11.5 "

Thickness of shaft 8.5-009 "

Width of distal extremity 20-021 "

Femur.

Length 103-107 mm.

Width of proximal extremity 25-026 "

Width of distal extremity 26 "

Width of shaft 11 "

Metatarsus.

Length 130 mm. approx.

Width of shaft 8.5 "

Width of middle trochlea 10 "

Coracoid.

Length 31 mm.

Width of glenoidal surface 13 "

Scapula.

Width at proximal extremity 23 mm.

Radius.

Length 24 mm.

Ulna.

Width at middle of shaft 10 mm.

Metacarpus.

Greatest width at proximal extremity 31 mm.

Length of spur 26 "

Width of second metacarpal 9 "

Habitat: Madagascar.

CNEMIORNIS OWEN.

Skull short and massive, with beak rounded and stout. Carina of sternum aborted. Limb-bones short and very stout, the ulna being shorter than the humerus, and having very prominent tubercles for the secondaries; cnemial crest of tibia greatly developed. No foramen between third and fourth trochleae of tarso-metatarsus. Spines of dorsal vertebrae tall. The power of flight was absent. The chief differences from Cereopsis were the presence of extra pre-sacral vertebrae, so that two only instead of three ribs articulate with the sacrum; and an elevated pent-roof arrangement of the ossa innominata, which indicate more decided cursorial habits.

CNEMIORNIS CALCITRANS OWEN.

Cnemiornis calcitrans Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. V, p. 396 (1865).

"The type species. Very considerably larger than the existing Cereopsis novaehollandiae, with the limbs relatively much stouter and shorter" (Lydekker).

Height of back from ground 26 inches.

Length from beak to tail 34 "

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.

For full description see Trans. N. Z. Inst. VI, pp. 76-84, pls. X-XII (1874).

"CNEMIORNIS GRACILIS" FORBES.

Cnemiornis gracilis Forbes, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 187 (1892) (Nomen nudum).

"A most elegantly moulded goose from the North Island." Unfortunately this is all that has been published about this form!

Habitat: North Island, New Zealand.

CNEMIORNIS MINOR FORBES.

Cnemiornis minor Forbes, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 187 (1892); vide also Trans. N.Z. Inst. VI, pp. 76-84 (Hector).

This species appears to be distinguished from Cnemiornis calcitrans by its very small size, being hardly bigger than Cereopsis novaehollandiae.

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.

CEREOPSIS NOVAEZEALANDIAE FORBES.

Cereopsis novaezealandiae Forbes, Trans. N. Zealand Inst. XXIV, p. 188 (1892).

This species was founded on an incomplete skull, and differed from C. novaehollandiae by its slightly larger size.

Habitat: New Zealand.

SARCIDIORNIS MAURITIANUS NEWT. & GAD.

Sarcidiornis mauritianus Newton & Gadow, Trans. Zool. Soc. XIII, p. 290, pl. XXXIV, figs. 9-10.

The evidence on which this species is founded is a single left metacarpal and an incomplete left half of the pelvis. Its specific character is the very large size as compared to the two existing species.

Habitat: Mauritius.

In an old work entitled "Memorandums concerning India" by J. Marshall (1668) in the article on the Island of Mauritius, there occurs this passage: "They are many Geese; the halfe of their wings towards the end are black and the other halfe white; they are not large, but fat and good. Plenty of Ducks." As there is no mention of the caruncle on the bill here or in other authors alluding to geese in Mauritius, Oustalet doubted that these geese were this Sarcidiornis, but I believe this merely to have been an oversight of Marshall's and that his description goes far to prove the distinctness of Newton and Gadow's species.

The allusion to the small size also points to the geese of Marshall being the Sarcidiornis. L'Abbé Dubois in "Les Voyages du Sieur D.B." records the fact that on Bourbon were some wild geese slightly smaller than the geese of Europe but having the same plumage. Their bill and feet were red. It is also probable that wild geese were found on Rodriguez. There is nothing to show what these Bourbon geese were, and as no osseous remains of such birds have been found as yet it is impossible to do more than mention the fact of such birds having been recorded.

ANAS FINSCHI VAN BENEDEN.

Anas finschi Van Beneden, Journ. Zool. IV, p. 267 (1875); Ann. de la Soc. Geol. Belg. II, p. 123 (1876).

This duck is most peculiar, as it stands intermediate between Querquedula and Dendrocygna in structure, and its nearest known ally seems to be the extinct A. blanchardi of Europe, and of living forms apparently Clangula clangula.

Skull nearest to that of Clangula clangula but wider, nostrils more elongated, eye-sockets smaller, and the whole skull more regularly rounded off. Sternum differs from that of C. clangula by having the notch lower, more faint behind and shorter in front. Clavicle and coracoid resemble those of Fuligula marila. Humerus larger and stronger than in F. marila and C. clangula, as are the femur, tibio-tarsus and tarso-metatarsus, which are almost double as long and thick.

Judging from the shape of its leg-bones this bird must have been a strong runner, and probably at the same time was a poor flyer.

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.

ANAS THEODORI NEWT. & GAD.

Anas theodori Newton & Gadow, Trans. Zool. Soc. XIII, p. 291, pl. XXXIV, figs 11-17 (1893—Mauritius).

Messrs. Newton and Gadow founded this species on a fragment of a sternum, a pair of coracoids, eight humeri, and a pair of tarso-metatarsi. These are referable to a duck of larger size than Nettion bernieri, and somewhat intermediate between N. punctata and Anas melleri.

The sternum differs from that of A. melleri by the lesser height of the keel and by the shape and direction of the anterior margin of the latter. The coracoid is longer and larger than in N. bernieri, but is much shorter than in A. melleri, though agreeing with that of the latter in shape, and by the plain almost ridgeless ventral surface of the shaft. The seven humeri vary in length from 70-78 mm., and agree in size with those of N. punctata, thus proving our species to be smaller than A. melleri.

The two tarso-metatarsi are in poor condition; the right one measuring 42 mm. in length, thus indicating that A. theodori was a bird with a shorter foot than A. melleri.

Habitat: Mauritius.

CAMPTOLAIMUS LABRADORIA (GM.)

(Plate 36.)

Anas labradoria Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 2, p. 537 (1788—"Habitat gregaria in America, boreali." Ex Pennant and Latham.)

Anas labradora Latham, Ind. Orn. II, p. 859 (1790).

Rhynchaspis labradora Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool. XII, 2, p. 121 (1824).

Fuligula labradora Bonaparte, Ann. Lyceum N.Y. II, p. 391 (1826).

Somateria labradora Boie, Isis 1828, p. 329.

Kamptorhynchus labradorus Eyton, Mon. Anat. p. 151 (1838).

Fuligula grisea Leib, Journ. Acad. Sc. Philad. VIII, p. 170 (1840—young bird).

Camptolaimus labradorus Gray, List. Gen. B. ed. 2, p. 95 (1841); Dutcher, Auk. 1891, p. 201, pl. II; 1894, pp. 4-12; Hartl. Abh. naturw. Ver. Bremen XVI, p. 23 (1895).

Camptolaemus labradorius Baird, B.N. Amer. p. 803 (1858); Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, Water—B. N. Amer. II, p. 63 (1884); Milne-Edw. and Oustalet, Centen. Mus. d'Hist. Nat., Notice Ois. éteint. p. 51, pl. IV (1893); Salvadori, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXVII, p. 416 (1895).

The adult male and a young male, both in my museum, are represented on plate 36, but the young bird became too rufous, through the colour type reproduction, and should be somewhat more mouse-gray. Though first technically named by Gmelin in 1788, this duck was first described in 1785 by Pennant, in the Arctic Zoology II, p. 559, as follows:—

"Pied Duck. With the lower part of the bill black, the upper yellow, on the summit of the head is an oblong black spot; forehead, cheeks, rest of the head and neck, white; the lower part encircled with black; scapulars and coverts of wings white; back, breast, belly, and primaries, black; tail cuneiform, and dusky; legs black. The bill of the supposed female? resembles that of the male, head and neck mottled with cinereous brown and dirty white; primaries dusky; speculum white; back, breast, and belly clouded with different shades of ash-colour; tail dusky and cuneiform; legs black. Size of a common Wild Duck.

"Sent from Connecticut, to Mrs. Blackburn. Possibly the great flocks of pretty Pied Ducks, which whistled as they flew, or as they fed, seen by Mr. Lawson in the western branch of Cape Fear inlet, were of this kind."

The Labrador-Duck is one of those birds, the disappearance of which is not easily explained. As Mr. Dutcher truly said, "we can speculate as to the cause of its disappearance, but we have no facts to warrant a conclusion." Formerly Camptolaimus was of regular occurrence along the northern Atlantic shores of North America, in winter south to New Jersey and New York. It has often been sold on the markets of New York and Baltimore, and nobody anticipated even fifty years ago that they might become extinct, but they appear never to have been very numerous, at least we have no proof of this. It is true that Professor Newton tells us that this duck used to breed on rocky islets, and that "its fate is easily understood," since "man began yearly to visit its breeding haunts, and, not content in plundering its nests, mercilessly to shoot the birds." This, however, seems to be mere conjecture, as we do not know for certain where the breeding haunts of this Duck have been, and that anyone has ever visited them. All information known about the breeding of this bird is that of Audubon, who says that his son was shown empty nests on the top of bushes, which a clerk of the fishing establishment told him were those of the Labrador Duck. This information is certainly too uncertain to draw any conclusions from, but the breeding places might just as well have been much further to the north, and probably were.

Amiens, Town Museum: 1 ♂ ad. (Auk. 1897, p. 87).

Berlin Museum: 1, bought from Salmin (Hartl. p. 23).

Paris: ♂ adult, presented 1810 by M. Hyde de Neuville.

London, British Museum: 2, a ♂ ad. and a ♀ ad., neither of them with exact locality or date.

Liverpool: 2 ♂ ad., 1 ♀, 1 ♂ jun.

Cambridge: 1 ♂

Dublin: 1 fine mounted ♂ (Dr. Scharff in litt.)

Tring: 1 ♂ ad., 1 ♂ jun. (See below.)

Brussels: 1 ♂ ad.

St. Petersburg: 1 ♂ ad., purchased from Salmin.

Heine Museum in Germany: 1 poor specimen.

Munich: The Museum possesses a male from the collection of the Duke of Leuchtenberg.

Dresden: 1 ♂ and two doubtful eggs—the latter doubtless wrong I should say.

Vienna: 1 ♂ ad., exchanged from Baron von Lederer in 1830. Locality New York; 1 ♀ ad., bought from Brandt in Hamburg in 1846, for 4 Gulden!

Leiden Museum: ♂ ♀, from the Prince of Wied.

American Museum, New York: 7, three of which formerly belonged to George N. Lawrence.

Long Island Historical Society, Brooklyn: 1 ♂ ad.

Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. York: 1 ♂ ad.

New York State Museum, Albany: ♂ ♀ ad.

Cory collection: ♂ ♀ ad.

University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont: 1 ♂ ad.

Philadelphia: 2 ♂ jun., 1 ♀

U.S. National Museum, Washington: 2 ♂, 1 ♀, 1 ♂ jun.

Collection of Mr. William Brewster: 1 ♂ jun., 1 ♀

Boston Society of Natural History: 1 ♂ jun.

Collection of Dalhousie College, Halifax: ♂ ♀

This makes a total of 48 known specimens.

The last specimens killed were those shot in May, 1871, at Grand Manan Island, the date of which is absolutely certain, and the specimen bought from a Mr. J. G. Bell in 1879, for the Smithsonian Institution, which is said to have been shot in 1875, but this date seems not quite certain (Cf. Auk, 1894, p. 9). That several other specimens were shot later than 1852 is perfectly certain. As the specimen of 1875, or thereabouts, is a young male, Mr. Lawrence's question about the old birds is certainly justified. As, however, no Labrador Duck has been recorded later than 1871 or 1875 we may suppose that it is now extinct.

My young male was bought in the Fulton Market, New York, about 1860, and probably came from Long Island. It was mounted by John Bell, a bird-stuffer, through whose hands several Labrador Ducks have gone, and is in the finest possible condition. I bought this bird from the late Gordon Plummer, shortly before his death. He died at his home in Brookline, Mass., in November, 1893. (Cf. Auk, 1891, p. 206.)

My adult male is the one of which the history is given in Auk, 1894, p. 176. It is described there in detail and then added: "Shot in the bay of Laprairie this spring (1862) by a habitant, and purchased by Mr. Thompson of this city, who has kindly placed it at my disposal for examination." Mr. William Dutcher of New York City bought this specimen from the widow of the Mr. Thompson, mentioned in the above note as the original owner, and I purchased it from Mr. William Dutcher, who informs me that "the Bay of Laprairie" is simply a name given to a wide part of the River St. Lawrence, just south of Montreal, Quebec. The name is found on good maps of Quebec.

"BIZIURA LAUTOURI" FORBES.

Biziura lautouri Forbes, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 188 (1892—nomen nudum).

Dr. Forbes, unfortunately, gives no description whatever of this bird. It would be interesting to know something about it, and especially if its powers of flight were impaired, as it seems to have been the case in so many extinct birds.

ARDEA MEGACEPHALA MILNE-EDWARDS.

Butors Leguat, Relation du Voyage (1708).

Ardea megacephala Milne-Edwards, Ann. Sci. Nat. (5) XIX, 1874, p. 10.

Leguat's description, here translated, is as follows:—"We had Bitterns as big and as fat as capons. They are tamer and more easily caught than the 'gelinotes.'" He also says, "The lizards often serve as prey for the birds, especially for the Bitterns. When we shook them down from the branches with a pole, these birds ran up and gobbled them down in front of us, in spite of all we could do to prevent them; and even if we only pretended to do so they came in the same manner and always followed us about."

Milne-Edwards remarks, among other notes, that "This bird is not a true Bittern, but its head is so large and its feet so short that it is easy to understand that Leguat should have called it so."

The bony structure of the head is remarkable on account of its massive and thick proportions; the skull itself is strongly enlarged posteriorly, and the temporal fossae are bordered by very pronounced ridges, especially those on the occipital region. The upper side of the skull is hardly convex, and the interorbital region is large, but only slightly depressed along its middle line. The bill is stout, almost straight, a good deal enlarged at its base and rounded beneath. The nostrils are large and preceded by a large groove, which extends very far towards the tip.

It is impossible to confound this skull with that of any Bittern, the latter having the beak relatively slender and only barely exceeding the skull in length. These also have the skull much constricted at the temporal region. The fossil skull from Rodriguez therefore presents characters essentially those of a Heron, but differs from all known species in its massive appearance. In the Grey, Purple and Goliath Herons, as well as in the Egrettes, the head is narrower, more elongated, the bill less conical and less strong. In Ardea atricollis, now inhabiting Madagascar, the beak much resembles that of our extinct species, but it is longer and less enlarged at the base. The interorbital area is much wider, while on the other hand the hinder portion of the skull is narrower and more elongated, which gives to the skull a totally different aspect.

The feet relatively to the head are extremely short, and from this I conclude that we know no species of Heron which can be compared to that of Rodriguez. Nevertheless, the tarso-metatarsus presents all the characters of Ardea, and is far removed from that of Botaurus. The tibia is big and short; it surpasses in length the tarso-metatarsus by about a third, as is usual in the Herons; but the femur on the contrary is strongly developed, being quite as large as in the Ardea cinerea; which shows us that the body of this creature was of large size, and that the reduction in size of the feet had only taken place at their extremities.

The sternum is puny and small as compared with the creature's size. It is clearly that of a bird not furnished with powerful wings, and is even much less elongated than in the Bittern, but the coracoidal bones are very long and slender. The wings also were short and feeble, the humerus being hardly as big as in Butorides atricapilla. It is conspicuously slenderer and shorter than in the Bittern. The main body of the bone is slightly curved on the outside, and the lower articular condyle is large and flattened. I have not been able to examine any bone of the "manus," but the metacarpal bone shows exactly the same proportions for the wing as does the humerus, as it also barely reaches the size of that of Butorides atricapilla. The measurements are as follows:—

Skull.

Total length 154 mm.

Length of upper mandible 94 "

Width of upper mandible at base 22 "

Width of interorbital region 22 "

Space between the mastoid apophyses 40 "

Width of skull at level of postorbital apophyses 40 "

Length of lower mandible 147 "

Tarso-metatarsus.

Total length 95-162 mm.

Width at proximal extremity 14 "

Width at distal extremity 13.5-14 "

Width of shaft 6.2-7 "

Tibio-tarsus.

Total length 140-210 mm.

Width at distal extremity 12-13 "

Width at proximal extremity 13-14 "

Width of shaft 6-6.5 "

Femur.

Total length 90-92 mm.

Width of distal extremity 15-16 "

Width of proximal extremity 14-16 "

Width of shaft 6.2-7 "

Sternum.

Total length 64-88 mm.

Width in front 35-48 "

Width behind costal facets 26-36 "

Width at posterior border 27-35 "

Coracoidals.

Total length 59-67 mm.

Width at lower extremity 17-18 "

Humerus.

Total length 118-180 mm.

Width of proximal extremity 20-27 "

Width of distal extremity 16.5-24 "

Width of shaft 7-11 "

Metacarpals.

Total length 62-98 mm.

Width of proximal extremity 12-17 "

Width of distal extremity 7-11 " "

The anonymous author of the manuscript "Rélation de l'île Rodrigue" (see Ann. Sci. Nat. (6) II p. 133 et seq. 1875) about the year 1830 mentions this bird as follows:—"There are not a few Bitterns which are birds which only fly a very little, and run uncommonly well when they are chased. They are of the size of an Egret and something like them."

Habitat: Rodriguez Island.

2 Humeri, 2 Femora, 2 Tibiae, and 2 Metatarsi in the Tring Museum.

ARDEA DUBOISI NOM. NOV.

Butors ou Grands Gauziers Dubois, Les Voyages faits par le Sieur D.B. (1674) p. 169.

L'Abbé Dubois is the only author who has, as far as I can ascertain, told us that the Island of Réunion also had a large almost flightless Heron as well as Mauritius and Rodriguez; and so feeling sure that it, like most other birds of this island, was distinct I name it after him.

The translation of his original description is as follows:—"Bitterns or Great Egrets, large as capons, but very fat and good. They have grey plumage, each feather spotted with white, the neck and beak like a Heron, and the feet green, made like the feet of Poullets d'Inde (Porphyrio, W.R.). This bird lives on fish."

Habitat: Réunion or Bourbon.

ARDEA MAURITIANA (NEWT. & GAD.)

Butorides mauritianus Newton & Gadow, Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. XIII, p. 289 (1893).

The bones on which this species is founded are a pair of ulnae, one radius, four metatarsi, and one coracoid. The description is as follows:—"The bones in question are all considerably shorter than the corresponding bones of A. (Nycticorax) megacephala. The metatarsi agree otherwise in every detail with those of the latter species; this relative stoutness indicates that they belonged to a Night-Heron or Bittern like A. megacephala. The two ulnae cannot, unfortunately, be compared with those of A. megacephala; their length, 110 mm., compared with the length of the humerus of A. megacephala, 119 mm., shows, however, likewise that they were those of a considerably smaller bird. The single left coracoid agrees in all the features of its dorsal or scapular half with A. megacephala, but its ventral or sternal half differs considerably, first by the much more strongly marked ridge of the linea intermuscularis on its ventral surface, secondly by the almost straight instead of inwardly curved margin between the processus lateralis and the lateral distal corner of the sternal articulation, thirdly by a very low but very distinct and sharp ridge, which arises from the median margin of the coracoid, a little above its median articulating corner. This roughness or prominent ridge is entirely absent in A. megacephala and in all other Herons which we have been able to examine, but at least a slight indication of it occurs in an individually varying degree in Nycticorax and Botaurus. That this coracoid bone belonged, however, to an Ardeine bird is clearly indicated by its whole configuration, notably by the shape and position of the precoracoid process, the various articulating facets at the dorsal end, and the prominent lip on the visceral or internal surface of the median portion of the sternal articulating facet."

The following are the measurements:—

Length of ulna 111-112 mm.

Length of metatarsus 81-87 "

Length of coracoid 48 "

Habitat: Mauritius.

Although megacephala and mauritiana have been placed in Ardea and Butorides respectively, from the short, stout legs and general build, I am inclined to think that all three of these Herons belong to the genus Nycticorax.

PROSOBONIA BP.

This genus is, in the Catalogue of Birds, placed in a section with somewhat long tarsus, the latter being longer than the culmen, containing in addition to Prosobonia the genera Tringites, and Aechmorhynchus (see afterwards), and it differs from the latter by its long hind toe, from the former by its square tail. The position of this singular bird is, however, not quite certain. The late Henry Seebohm placed it in the genus Phegornis, though the latter has no hind toe whatever, and it has even—but doubtless wrongly—been suggested that it belonged to the Rallidae, rather than to the Charadriidae. We know only one species. It is true that Dr. Sharpe bestowed a new name on the figure of Ellis, which is said to have been taken from an Eimeo-specimen, but it is hardly creditable that it belongs to a different species. Latham appears to have had three specimens, which were all three different from each other. Both Forster and Ellis, in their unpublished drawings in the British Museum, as well as Latham, evidently considered all three to belong to the same species, and it is not advisable now to over-rule their verdict, given with the specimens before them, merely on account of the different plumages, since we all know that most waders, and especially brightly-coloured ones, differ considerably in plumage, according to age and seasons. We are convinced that "P. ellisi" has been a younger bird. Sharpe attaches importance to the different habitat, but this is no argument in this instance, because Eimeo is, at the nearest point, not more than seven and a half miles from Tahiti,^[2] and it is quite against all precedents among Charadriidae and beyond all plausibility that two such closely situated islands have closely allied forms of a Wader.

PROSOBONIA LEUCOPTERA (GM.)

(Plate 35.)

White-winged Sandpiper Latham, Gen. Syn. III, pt. 1, p. 172, pl. LXXXII (1785—Otaheite and Eimeo).

Tringa leucoptera Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, p. 678 (1788—ex Latham!); Westermann, Bijdr. Dierk. I, p. 51, pl. 15 (1854—Figure of the type).

Totanus leucopterus Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d'Hist. Nat. (Ed. II) VI, p. 396 (1817).

Calidris leucopterus Cuvier, Règne Anim. I, p. 526 (1829).

Tringa pyrrhetraea Lichtenstein, Forster's descr. anim. p. 174 (1844—Otaheiti).

Prosobonia leucoptera Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. XXXI, p. 562 (1850); Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXIV, p. 525 (1896).

Tringoides leucopterus Gray, Handl. B. III, p. 46 (1871).

Phegornis leucopterus Seebohm, Geogr. Distrib. Charad. p. 452 pl. 18 (1888).

Prosobonia ellisi Sharpe, Bull. B.O.C. XVI, p. 86 (1906—"Eimeo").

Dr. Sharpe's description, made from the type in the Leyden Museum, is as follows: "Adult. General colour of upper surface blackish brown; the lower back and rump ferruginous; centre tail-feathers blackish, the rest rufous, banded with black, less distinctly on the two next the middle pair; wing-coverts blackish, with a white spot near the carpal bend of the wing, formed by some of the lesser coverts; crown of head blackish, the hind-neck browner, mixed with black; sides of face brown, the lores and ear-coverts slightly more reddish, behind the eye a little white spot; cheeks and under surface of body ferruginous red, the throat buffy white. Length 6.7 inches, culmen 0.9, wing 4.45, tail 2.15, tarsus 1.3 (Mus. Lugd.)"

We know nothing of this bird, but the one specimen in the Leyden Museum, which is the type, or at least one of the types. As no other specimens have been obtained for nearly a century and a quarter, there is every reason to fear that this bird is extinct. My plate has been made up by Mr. Lodge from the unpublished drawings of Ellis and Forster in the British Museum.

Habitat: Tahiti, and the adjacent islet of Eimeo.

AECHMORHYNCHUS COUES.

This genus appears to be closely allied to Prosobonia, but has a much shorter hind toe. Its colouration is very different, and quite that of a Sandpiper, while the pattern of Prosobonia is most singular. Seebohm placed Aechmorhynchus, together with Prosobonia, in the genus Phegornis.

We know only one species.

AECHMORHYNCHUS CANCELLATA (GM.)

(Plate 35.)

Barred Phalarope Latham, Gen. Syn. III. pt. 1, p. 274 (1785—Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean).

Tringa cancellata Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, p. 675 (1788—ex Latham).

Tringa parvirostris Peale, U.S. Expl. Exp., Birds p. 235, pl. LXVI, 2 (1848—Paumotu) Cassin, U.S. Expl. Exp. p. 321, pl. 38, 2 (1858—Paumotu).

Totanus (Tryngites?) cancellatus Gray, Cat. B. Trop. Islands Pac. Ocean, p. 51 (1859).

Phegornis cancellatus Seebohm, Geogr. Distrib. Charadr. p. 451, pl. 17 (1888).

Aechmorhynchus cancellatus Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXIV, p. 525 (1896).

"Bill short, straight, and slender; wings long, first, second, and third quills very nearly equal; tertiaries but very little longer than the secondaries; tail rather long, wide, rounded; legs and toes long, the former robust; tibia feathered for more than half its length. A distinct stripe over and behind the eye ashy-white. Entire upper parts umber-brown, unspotted on the top of the head, but on the other upper parts edged and tipped with ashy-white and reddish fulvous. Tail-feathers umber-brown, with irregular and imperfect transverse narrow bands of ashy and pale reddish-white, and tipped with the same. Underparts white, with a tinge of ashy; throat and middle of the abdomen unspotted; breast, sides, and under coverts of the tail spotted, and with irregular transverse bars of brown, the latter most apparent on the sides, flanks, and under tail-coverts. Under wing-coverts ashy-white, irregularly spotted with brown. Bill greenish, darker at the tip; legs dark green. Sexes very nearly alike, female slightly paler. (Cassin.)"

I have here given the synonymy of this bird, as it has now been generally accepted by Seebohm, Sharpe, and others. An actual comparison of the types would, however, be very desirable, but, unfortunately, we do not know where the type of Latham is, and if it still exists. Christmas Island lies much to the north of the Paumotu group! As no specimens have been obtained since the U.S. Exploring Expedition, we may safely suppose that the species has ceased to exist for some reason.

Habitat: "Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean and Paumotu Islands."

GALLINAGO CHATHAMICA FORBES.

Gallinago chathamica Forbes, Ibis 1893, p. 545.

Evidently a species allied to G. pusilla, but very much larger. Bill three inches long.

Habitat: Chatham Islands.

Several skulls and a few bones in the Tring Museum. This is a snipe only a little larger than the existing Gallinago aucklandica.

HYPOTAENIDIA (?) PACIFICUS (GM.)

(Plate 26.)

Pacific rail Latham, Gen. Syn. III, pt. I, p. 255 (1785).

Rallus pacificus Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, p. 717 (1788).

Forster's description is as follows, in translation: "Black with white spots or bars; abdomen, throat, and eyebrow white; hind neck ferruginous; breast grey; bill blood-red; iris red. Bill straight, compressed, narrowed at the top, thicker at the base, and blood-red. The mandibles subequal, pointed; the upper slightly curved, with the tip pale fuscous; gape medium. Nostrils almost at the base of bill, linear. Eyes placed above the gape of the mouth. Iris blood-red. Feet four-toed, split, built for running, flesh coloured. Femora semi-bare, slender, of medium length.

"Tibiae slightly compressed, shorter than the femora. Four toes, slender, of which three point forward (are front toes). The middle one almost as long as the Tibia, the side ones of equal length shorter, the back one short, raised from the ground. Nails short, small, slightly incurved, pointed, and light coloured. Head oval, slightly depressed, fuscous. A superciliary line from bill to occiput whitish. Throat white. Hindneck ferruginous. Neck very short. Back and rump black, sparsely dotted with minute white dots. Breast bluish grey. Abdomen, crissum, and loins white. Wings short, wholly black, variegated with broken white bands. Remiges short. Rectrices extremely short, black spotted with white, hardly to be distinguished from the coverts.

Total length from bill to tail 9 inches.

Total length to middle toe 12¾ "

Bill 11⁄10 "

Tibiae 2 "

Middle toe 13⁄10 " "

Mr. Keulemans' plate was done from Forster's unpublished drawing in the British Museum, and no specimen is in existence. The legs should, however, be less bright red, more flesh-colour.

Habitat: Tahiti, but evidently long extinct.

This bird, according to Forster, was called "Oomnaa" or "Eboonaa," on Otaheite, and the neighbouring islands.

NESOLIMNAS ANDREWS.

Differs from Cabalus by the relatively shorter bill; by having the whole culmen convex with the tip sharply decurved, by having a close instead of a loose plumage, and a much less reduced sternum, with a well-developed instead of almost obsolete keel. Type of genus Nesolimnas dieffenbachi (Gray).

NESOLIMNAS DIEFFENBACHII GRAY.

(Plate 27.)

Rallus Dieffenbachii Gray, Dieffenb., Trav. N.Z. II App. p. 197 (1843).

Ocydromus dieffenbachi Gray, Voy. Ereb. and Terr., Birds p. 14, pl. 15 (1846).

Hypotaenidia dieffenbachi Bonaparte, C. R. XLIII, p. 599 (1856).

Cabalus dieffenbachi Sharpe, Voy. Ereb. and Terr., Birds p. 29, pl. 15 (1875), id., Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXIII p. 47 (1894).

Nesolimnas dieffenbachi Andrews, Novit. Zool. III. p. 266, pl. X, figs 3-15 (1896).

Adult: "General colour above, brown, banded on the mantle and scapulars, and spotted on the upper back with ochreous buff, these buff markings being margined with black, which takes the form of broad bars on the mantle; lower back and rump uniform brown; upper tail coverts brown, barred across with light rufous and black; lesser wing coverts like the back; median and greater coverts, as well as the primary coverts and quills, light chestnut, barred with black, the inner secondaries spotted and barred with ochre and black, like the back; tail feathers brown, mottled with chestnut near the base; crown of the head and nape uniform brown, followed by an indistinct patch of chestnut on the hindneck; lores dull rufous, surmounted by a broad line of bluish grey, extending from the base of the nostrils to the sides of the nape; rest of the sides of the face bluish grey, extending on to the lower throat; this grey area of the face separated from the grey eyebrow by a broad band of dark chestnut, which extends from the lores through the eye along the upper part of the ear-coverts; chin and upper throat white; lower throat black, barred across with white; fore neck and chest ochreous buff, banded rather narrowly with black, this pattern of colouration extending up the sides of the neck to the chestnut on the ear coverts; lower breast and abdomen black, banded with white, the light bars on the flanks and vent feathers being tinged with ochreous; under-tail coverts broadly banded with black and ochre; under-wing coverts and axillaries blackish, barred with white; under surface of quills chestnut, with broad black bars.

Wing 4.8 inches, culmen 1.35, tail 2.7" (Sharpe).

Habitat: Chatham Islands.

The type and only known specimen is that in the British Museum.

CABALUS HUTTON.

Cabalus Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst. Vol. VI p. 108, pl. XX (1874—Type and unique species Cabalus modestus).

Captain Hutton characterized his new genus as follows: "Bill longer than the head, moderately slender and slightly curved, compressed in the middle and slightly expanding towards the tip; nostrils placed in a membranous groove which extends beyond the middle of the bill, openings exposed, oval, near the middle of the groove. Wings very short, rounded; quills soft, the outer webs as soft as the inner, fourth and fifth the longest, first nearly as long as the second; a short, compressed claw at the end of the thumb. Tail very short and soft, hidden by the coverts. Tarsi moderate, shorter than the middle toe, flattened in front, and covered with transverse scales; toes long and slender, inner nearly as long as the outer, hind toe short, very slender, and placed on the inner side of the tarsus; claws short, compressed, blunt.

"The bird is incapable of flight, and the stomach of the specimen, dissected by Dr. Knox, contained only the legs and elytra of beetles."

Captain Hutton also adds, l.c., a valuable description of the skeleton.

One species known.

CABALUS MODESTUS (HUTTON).

(Plate 28.)

Rallus modestus Hutton, Ibis 1872, p. 247. (Mangare, Chatham Islands.)

Cabalus modestus Hutton, Trans. New Zeal. Inst. VI p. 108. (The genus Cabalus established.)

Rallus dieffenbachii juv. Buller, B. New Zealand, Ed. I pp. 179, 180; Ed. II p. 121 (1888).

Cabalus dieffenbachii (part., juv.!) Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXIII p. 47 (1894); corr. p. 331.

Cabalus modestus Forbes, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. No. IV. p. XX (Dec. 1892); Salvadori, op. cit. V p. XXIII (Jan., 1893); Forbes, Ibis 1893, pp. 532, 544, pl. XIV, fig. 4, egg; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXIII p. 331 (1893); Buller, Suppl. B.N.Z. I p. 45, pl. III (1905).

Ocydromus pygmaeus Forbes, Nature XLVI, p. 252 (1892—nomen nudum! cf. Ibis 1893, p. 544).

Captain Hutton (Ibis 1872, p. 247) described this interesting species as follows: "Olivaceous brown, bases of the feathers plumbeous; feathers of the breast slightly tipped with pale fulvous, those of the abdomen and flanks with two narrow bars of the same colour; throat dark grey, each feather slightly tipped with brown. Quills soft brown, the first three faintly barred with reddish fulvous, fourth and fifth the longest. Tail very soft and short, brown. Irides light brown, bill and legs light brown. Length 8.75 inches, wing 3.15, bill from gape 1.4, tarsus 1, middle toe and claw 1.4.

Young. Uniform brownish black.

A single specimen and young from Mangare; also a specimen in spirits."

The author knew perfectly well what he was doing when he described this excellent species. Sir Walter Buller afterwards (B. New Zealand, Ed. I, pp. 179, 180) declared "after carefully comparing it with the type of Rallus dieffenbachii, and submitting the matter to the judgment of other competent ornithologists, I have no hesitation in considering it the same species, in an immature state of plumage." (Sic!) Unfortunately, Dr. Sharpe, in the Catalogue of Birds XXIII, repeated Buller's error, and, on Plate VI, figured Cabalus modestus under the name of Cabalus dieffenbachii, though the latter is not congeneric with C. modestus, and must be called Nesolimnas dieffenbachii, while the third form included in Cabalus by Dr. Sharpe, viz. sylvestris of Lord Howe's Island, must also be separated genetically from Cabalus.

Formerly Cabalus modestus inhabited Great Chatham Island, as Dr. Forbes proved by bones found by himself at Warekauri, but when the species was discovered it existed there no more, though being plentiful on the little outlying island of Mangare. Unfortunately even there it is evidently extinct now, this island being overrun with cats and rats, besides which, according to Buller, the original vegetation has been ruthlessly burnt down for the purpose of sowing grass-seed, as even this bleak little island has been claimed by an enterprising sheep-farmer. Fortunately a good many specimens have been secured by the late W. Hawkins. I have fifteen in my museum, and there are specimens in the British Museum, in Liverpool, and one in Cambridge. Henry Palmer failed to get specimens when he visited Mangare.

I have also the egg described and figured in the Ibis by Dr. Forbes. It measures 40 by 21.4 mm., and is creamy white, with faint pale reddish and purplish roundish spots.

Habitat: Chatham Islands, east of New Zealand.

OCYDROMUS MINOR HAMILTON.

Ocydromus sp. Hamilton, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXV, p. 103 (1893).

Ocydromus minor Hamilton (nec. Forbes) l.c.

This species is nearest allied to sylvestris Scl., which has quite erroneously been placed in the genus Cabalus by Dr. Sharpe; sylvestris will have to form the type of a new genus, but until the skull of minor is known I prefer to leave the latter temporarily in Ocydromus.

The present species is known from two pelves, seven femora, six tibiae, and five metatarsi, as well as the front portion of a sternum. The measurements all show that minor was a slightly larger form than sylvestris, but owing to having a much shorter tibio-tarsus it must have been a much stumpier bird.

Minor. Sylvestris.

Pelvis extreme length 65 mm. 62.5 mm.

Pelvis extreme breadth 28 " 25 "

Femur length 64 " 63 "

Tibio-tarsus length 93 " 98 "

Tarso-metatarsus length 53 " 51 "

Sternum greatest width 24.5 " 24.5 "

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand. Extinct.

OCYDROMUS INSIGNIS FORBES.

Ocydromus insignis Forbes, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 188 (1892—insufficient description).

This bird "far exceeded in size any of the existing species of Ocydromus." That is all that is published about this bird.

Habitat: Middle Island, New Zealand.

APHANAPTERYX FRAUENFELD.

Bill produced, not cut short, rather curved. The nostrils are exposed and situated at the base of the bill. Halluces of the naked fowl-like legs of moderate length. Front of legs apparently scutellated. Wings abortive, no rectrices apparent.

APHANAPTERYX BONASIA SELYS.

(Plate 29.)

A Hen Sir Thomas Herbert, A relation of some years' Travaile (1626).

Velt-hoenders Reyer Cornelisz, Van der Hagen's voyage (1646).

Poules rouges au bec de Becasse Cauche, Rélations véritables et curieuses de l'Isle de Madagascar (1651).

Apterornis bonasia Edm. de Sélys-Longchamps, Revue Zoologique, p. 292 (1848).

Didus herberti Schlegel, Vers. Med. Ak. Wetensch., II, p. 256 (1854).

Didus broecki Schlegel, l.c.

Aphanapteryx imperialis Frauenfeld, Neu aufgef. Abbild. Dronte, p. 6 (1868).

Aphanapteryx broeckii Milne-Edwards, Ann. Sci. Nat. (5), X, pp. 325-346, pls. 15-18 (1868).

Pezophaps broeckii Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Struthiones, p. 4 (1873).

I here give a translation of Frauenfeld's original diagnosis: "Of the size of a fowl, of a uniform brown red all over. Bill and legs dark. Iris yellowish. Feathers decomposed, as in the Apteryx, somewhat lengthened on the nape."

This description was made by Frauenfeld from a drawing by G. Hoefnagels, in the Imperial Library, Vienna, executed about the year 1610, and, together with that of the Dodo, apparently drawn from life in the Imperial Menagerie at Ebersdorf. This drawing proves Van den Broecke, Herbert, and Cauche's descriptions to have been correct, though their drawings are somewhat startlingly different in shape. Only known from these four drawings and osseous remains. 18 fragments of beaks, 5 pelves, 35 tibiae, 1 sacrum and fragments, and 1 vertebra in the Tring Museum.

Habitat: Mauritius.

DIAPHORAPTERYX FORBES.

This genus is closely allied to Aphanapteryx and Erythromachus, but, on the whole, is nearer to Aphanapteryx. It differs from both these genera and Ocydromus in the large protuberances on the basi-temporal region of the skull, and the tarso-metatarsus was much shorter than in Aphanapteryx. For complete diagnosis of this genus see Andrews in Novitates Zoologicae, Vol. III, pp. 73-76 (1896).

DIAPHORAPTERYX HAWKINSI (FORBES).

Aphanapteryx hawkinsi Forbes, Nature XLVI, p. 252.

Diaphorapteryx hawkinsi Forbes, Bull. B.O.C.I. p. XXI, 1893.

The remains of this bird were first sent to Dr. H. O. Forbes in 1892 by the late W. Hawkins, from the Chatham Islands, 500 miles E.S.E. of New Zealand. It appears to have been confined to the Island of Wharekauri. Dr. Forbes subsequently went to the Chathams himself and collected a large number of bones of various extinct birds, including those of Diaphorapteryx. In 1895 I received a consignment of bones through the agency of Mr. Dannefaerd, from the Chathams, such as has never been equalled from any deposit elsewhere, for literally there were many hundreds of thousands of bones of a considerable number of species of birds. From this collection Mr. C. W. Andrews was able to draw up a most minute description of the skeleton of Diaphorapteryx, founded on several practically complete skeletons, some thirty or more skulls, and several thousand individual bones of various portions of the skeleton. This description, published in Novitates Zoologicae, Vol. III, pp. 73-84, is too long for reproduction here, and so I must refer my readers to it.

This bird, as well as the Palaeolimnas, shows an apparent relationship between the Chatham Islands and the Mascarene Islands; but I believe that this is not a real relationship, as has been asserted, due to a former land-connection, but merely a case of parallel development owing to similar conditions of existence.

Habitat: Wharekauri Island, Chatham Islands.

In the Tring Museum are two complete skeletons, more than a thousand bones, and about fifteen skulls.

One almost complete skeleton, and the type, skull, and bones, are in the British Museum.

ERYTHROMACHUS MILNE-EDWARDS.

"Legs stout, made for running, and from a quarter to one-fifth shorter than in Ocydromus, the three anterior digits well developed and the hallux very small. Body less massive than in Ocydromus, with the wings slightly more developed, but not serviceable for flight. Head small; bill red, straight, pointed, and about 60 mm. = 2.4 inches. A red naked patch round the eye; plumage pale grey."