164 Prof. Schlegel un some Extinct Gigantic Birds 



struthious Solitaire of Bourbon and the Apteryx-like Dodos of 

 Herbert and Van den Broecke, and has given it the name of 

 Apterornis carulescens. Finally, in Bonaparte*, where, besides, 

 the greatest confusion prevails with respect to the extinct birds 

 of the Mascarene Islands, the Oiseau bleu appears in an inde- 

 pendent genus under the name of Cyanornis erythrorhyncha, and 

 there is incomprehensibly added, as a synonym of the species, the 

 Dodo of Van den Broecke, while the Dodo of Herbert makes a 

 second species of this compound genus. 



When we attentively consider the account of the Oiseau bleu, 

 every one will be disposed to admit that, though very short, it 

 cannot be applied to any other bird than a Porphyrio, and 

 especially, indeed, to the aberrant form of that genus known as 

 Notornis, which we would regard as representing tlie galline 

 form among the Porphyrios, particularly in consequence of the 

 powerful figure, the thick tibiae (clothed with feathers nearly to 

 the extremity), the short toes, and the short, thick neckf. The 

 supposition that this Oiseau bleu was such a species of Porphyria, 

 is strongly supported by the fact that the various species of the 

 genus range from the most southern part of Europe, over the 

 whole of Africa, Madagascar, the East Indies to further India, 

 Australia, and New Zealand, and that thus the Mascarene Islands 

 are contained within the geographical area of this form. That 

 the Oiseau bleu was bigger than the species of PorpJujrio known 

 to us is an objection which will fall when we consider that 

 Notornis also exceeds remarkably the remaining species; and 

 that the southern hemisphere produces other species of the 

 family more or less gigantic in proportion, and at the same 

 time often different, as, for instance, Notornis under Porphyrio, 

 Tribonyx and our Giant under Gallinula, Fulica gigas of Peru 

 among the Coots, and finally the gigantic and strange Palamedece, 

 which, however, inhabit the whole of tropical America. That 

 the Oiseau bleu had wings not fit for flight must not surprise us, 

 as Notornis has similar wings, and as, moreover, a considerable 

 number of other birds in the Mascarene Islands, as also in New 



* Conspectus Avium. Leiden, 8vo, ii. p. 3. 



t For similar reasons we regard Tribonyx, or even Ocydromus, as the 

 galline form of tlie Gallinula. 



