282 ORNITHOLOGY OF THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



and the claws were well-worn. In this connection it is important to remember that, 

 if all young, these birds could only vary a few weeks in their respective ages, for they 

 were obtained in the autumn, and hence must be " birds of the year." This evidence, 

 and the other peculiarities alluded to wherein N. jcssise differs from N. gougheusis, led 

 me to depart from my first impressions regarding the relationship of these forms to 

 each other and to consider them distinct species. I may have been mistaken in so 

 doing, but I think it best to leave it an open question one to be decided by further 

 investigations based upon a more complete set of specimens. 



Judging from Mr Comer's rough descriptions of the Passerines, he does not seem 

 to have observed this form, and yet he remained on the island down to the very end 

 of summer, when young birds must have been in evidence. We must remember, 

 however, that his observations were not published till some six years after he had 

 left Gough Island, and therefore much that he has told us may have probably been 

 from memory. 



3. Porphyriornis comeri Allen. 



The flightless Gallinule peculiar to this island was abundant in the dense under- 

 growth along the sides of the stream. Among this it endeavoured to hide, but its 

 brilliantly coloured bill and feet easily betrayed it. The specimens captured were 

 secured whilst running amongst this thick mass of vegetation. One ran into a burrow 

 in its endeavours to escape, and it is probable that others resorted to similar tactics. 



Five specimens w r ere secured, one of which is an immature bird, though full-grown 

 so far as size is concerned. In this undescribed phase the bill and the frontal shield, 

 which is small, are dull olive-green, and the tarsus and toes dull oil-green. It also 

 varies in plumage from the adult, having the upper surface a warm vaudyke-brown, 

 a little darker on the head and primaries ; the under surface strongly washed with 

 sepia-brown ; the flanks brown, two or three of the feathers on each side having short 

 inconspicuous cinnamon stripes ; the outer margin of the first primary cinnamon-buff; 

 the edge of the wing streaked with greyish white ; the feathers of the lower part of the 

 abdomen edged with greyish white. 



In the adult specimens the frontal shield and the basal two-thirds of the bill are 

 deep coral-red, the distal third of the bill bright yellow. The exposed portion of the 

 tibia is deep coral-red. Tarsus and toes bright yellow, the former irregularly blotched 

 with coral-red, while a narrow line of the same colour runs along the sides of the latter. 

 The amount of yellow and red varies much in different specimens, and in some the red 

 predominates. The iris is crimson. The wing-measurement of the adults varies from 

 5 '3 to 5 '9 5 inches ; in the young specimens it is 5 '5 inches. 



In form and in the colour of its plumage this bird very closely resembles our 

 familiar waterhen (Gallinula chloropus). The bill and frontal shield are larger and 

 the feet more robust. 



Regarding the habits of this bird, which he calls the " Mountain Cock," Mr Comer 



