MOOR-HEN 591 



has instituted for it a new genus, to which he also refers the preced- 

 ing bird. A more extreme development in this direction appears to 

 be exhibited by the singular Hahroptila ivallacii of Gilolo {Froc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1860, p. 365, pi. clxxii.), and to some extent by the Fareudiastes 

 pacijicus of Samoa {op. cit. 1871, p. 25, pi. ii.), but at present little 

 is known of either. Of other forms, such as the common Gallinula 

 (Erythra) phcenimra and Gallirex cinerea of India, as well as the 

 South-American species classed in the genus FoipJnjriojts, there is 

 not room to speak ; but mention must be made of the remarkable 

 Australian genus Trihonyx, containing three species {Ann. d' Mag. 

 N. H. ser. 3, xx. p. 123), called by the colonists "Moor-hen" and 

 " Native Hen," which seem to be more terrestrial than aquatic in 

 their haunts and habits. 



Allied to all these is the genus Forphyrio, including the bird so 

 named by classical writers, and perhaps a dozen other species often 

 called Sultanas and Purple Water-hens, 

 for they all have a plumage of deep 

 blue — some becoming violet, green, or 

 black in jmrts, but i:)reserving the 

 white lower tail-coverts so generally 

 characteristic of the group ; and their 



1 , • 1 1 1 J.1 • 1 i. PoRPHYRio. (After Swainson.) 



Ijeauty is enhanced by their scarlet 



bill and legs. Two, F. alleni of the Ethiopian Region and the 

 South- American F. parva, are of small size. Of the larger sj^ecies, 

 F. cxrulcus seems to be the " Porphyrio " of the ancients, and inhabits 

 certain localities on both sides of the Mediterranean, Avhile the rest 

 are widely dispersed Avithin the tropics, and even beyond them, as 

 in Australia and New Zealand. But this last country has jjroduced 

 a more exaggerated form, Nofornis, which has an interesting and 

 perhaps unique history. First described from an imperfect fossil 

 skull by Owen {Froc. Zool. Soc. 1848, pp. 2, 7 ; Trans, iii. p. 366, pl.lvi.), 

 and at that time thought to be extinct, an example was soon after 

 taken alive {Froc. 1850, pp. 209-214, pi. xxi. ; Trans, iv. pp. 69-74, 

 pi. XXV.), the skin of which (with that of another procured like the 

 first by Mr. "Walter Mantell) may be seen in the British Museum. 

 Other fossil remains were from time to time noted by Prof. Owen ; ^ 

 but it began to be feared that the bird had ceased to exist," until a 

 third example was taken about the year 1879, the skin and most 



^ Thus the leg-bones and what appeared to be the sternum were described and 

 figured by him (Trans, iv. pp. 12, 17, pis. ii. iv.), and the pelvis and another 

 femur (vii. pp. 369, 373, pis. xlii. xliii. ); but the supposed sternum subsequently 

 proved not to be that of Notornis, and the author's attention being called to the 

 fact [Froc. 1882, p. 97) he rectified the error {torn. cit. p. 689) Avhich he had 

 previously been "inclined to believe" [Trans, viii. p. 120) he had made. 



- Notwithstanding the statement, which certainly presented some incon- 

 gruities, made by Mr. Mackay [His, 1867, p. 144). 



