Zoological Affinities oj Aphanapteryx. 259 



flightless "red fowls" of which Cauche and Hoffmann speak, 

 and the bird which has been found figured in the collection of 

 paintings on vellum in the private library of the Emperor of 

 Austria. These paintings are, for the most part, the work of 

 the same artist ; some have evidently been executed from living 

 subjects, others from stuffed animals ; and some, indeed, are the 

 result of the painter's imagination. It is thought they are 

 from the pencil of the celebrated Dutch miniature-painter George 

 Hoefnagel, who was born at Amsterdam in 1545 or 1546, and 

 died between 1608 and 1617, and was attached to the court of 

 Rudolf XL as " peintre du cabinet." The attitude of the bird 

 in question is so natural, that it is allowable to suppose that it 

 has been drawn from the life, in addition to which, the feathers 

 which correspond to the base of the wing seem to be somewhat 

 in disorder. This bird presents the essential chai'acters as- 

 signed by Cauche to his Poules rouges. It has the same colo- 

 ration, the same form of the bill, and we also find in it the 

 structure of the feathers indicated by Hoffmann. Herr von 

 Frauenfeld does not hesitate to establish this relation, and gives 

 his work the title of a " Newly-found figure of the Dodo, 

 and of a second short-winged Bird, the Poule rouge au bee de 

 Becasse." This bird is so remarkable, and offers characters so 

 special, that it is easy to distinguish it by means even of a very suc- 

 cinct description. The painting which now exists, and has been 

 veiy skilfully reproduced in chromolithography, at the cost of 

 the Zoologico-botanical Society of Vienna, makes known to us 

 most of the external characters of this new Mauritian bird. 

 The bill is black, very pointed, and regularly decurved ; it is 

 very nearly twice as long as the cranium. The upper mandible 

 is rounded above ; and near the base is seen the opening of the 

 nostril, which is small and very narrow. The eye, of which the 

 iris is yellowish, is situated far forwards ; behind and lower down, 

 the mark of the auditory foramen is perceptible. The plumage, 

 of a uniform reddish hue, has no consistency ; the feathers, like 

 those of the Apteryx, have a simple shaft, and the barbs and 

 barbules are long, soft, and do not adhere to each other; those 

 of the hind part of the flanks are the most developed. The 

 necic is pretty long, and clothed on the nape with overhanging 



