of the Mascarene Islands. 167 



The two birds now described by us may be placed in the 

 system with the following attributes : — 



Gallinula (Leguatia) gigantea. 



" Le Geant," Leguat, Voy. ii. p. 72, fig. 



;, „ Du Quesne apucl Leguat, op. cit. i. p. 55 (?). 



" Straussartiger Vogel/' Hamel, Bullet. Acad. St. Petersb. 

 vii. No. 5 et 6 [pp. 65-96]. 



"Flamingo," Strickland, 'The Dodo, &c.' p. 60 (note). 



Stature, six feet high. Body not heavier than that of a Goose. 

 Wings pretty short, but fit for flight. Feathers of the tibia 

 reaching pretty close to the tarsus. Toes long and quite free, 

 those in front about as long as the tarsus. Upper mandible ex- 

 tended in a plate reaching beyond the eye. General colour 

 white, with a reddish spot under the wing. Colour of the feet 

 and bill unknown, but probably not very remarkable, as the 

 description does not mention it. 



Hab. Mauritius, perhaps also Bourbon ; once accidentally 

 met with in Rodriguez. 



Observed with certainty only by Leguat in 1694. Since that 

 time not remarked again, and evidently long ago completely 

 extirpated. 



Seems to represent the Crane-type among the Waterhens. 



PORPHYRIO (NOTORNIS ?) CiERULESCENS. 



" Oiseau bleu," D.B., Manuscript Journal \_penes Soc. Zool. 

 Lond. p. 183] ; Strickland, op. cit. p. 59. 



Apterornis ccBrulescens, De Selys-Longchamps, Revue Zoolog. 

 Oct. 1848, p. 3 [potiiis, p. 294]. 



Cyanornis erythrorhyncha, Bonap. Consp. Av. ii. p. 3 {except. 

 synon. Did. broeckii). 



Size of a heavy Goose or Turkey. Feet like a Hen's. Colour 

 blue. Bill and feet red. Does not fly, but runs extraordinarily 

 fast. 



Hab. Bourbon [Reunion]. 



Only observed by "D. B." in 1669 [between 1669 and 

 1672] ; never seen since, and apparently extirpated. 



Seems, with Notornis mantelli, to represent the Hen-type 

 among the Porphyrios. 



