PENNULA. WlLSONl. 



79 



» observe dans les iles Sandwich; voyage de Cook", but this 

 statement does not seem to rest on any reliable foundation , 

 for there does not exist any notice when and from wJiom 

 Temminck acquired the specimen! This fact must be men- 

 tioned , as Dr. Hartlaub assures us that Temminck bought 

 this Rail at the auction of Bullock's collection (3 June 

 1819) for £ 1.10, which may have been the case; but it 

 cannot be proved that it was the specimen in question. 



That it was not brought home by Cook from the Sand- 

 wich Islands is without the slightest doubt, for, according to 

 the researches of Prof. Newton, Cook's specimens were not 

 skins but dried examples and have long since perished. 

 Besides this, Latham described his » Sandwich Rail" from 

 the collection of Sir Joseph Banks; so his type cannot be 

 the same as the specimen in the Leyden Museum. 



Latham's » Dusky Rail" {Rallus obscurus Gm\.), said to come 

 also from the Sandwich Islands, is, according to his descrip- 

 tion, a quite different and much larger bird («legs two inches" 

 = 50 mm.; »legs red brown"; »bill scarcely one inch" — 

 our specimen has the bill only 7^ ƒ2 lines long!), and is 

 most likely not a „Pennuhi' at all. Evidently Latham would 

 have mentioned the rudimentary tail ^), as he did not over- 

 look this prominent character iu the description of his 

 » Sandwich Rail". The type of Latham's » Dusky Rail" was 

 in the Leverian Museum , but unfortunately appears to have 

 been also lost. 



Schlegel's »Crex sandwichensis'^ is only known from the 

 specimen in the Leyden Museum and is no doubt one of 

 the rarest of birds , being most certainly not the same as 

 ■» Rallus sandioichensis''' or ■» Rallus obscurus'^ of Gmelin; it 

 must therefore be renamed. I have the pleasure to name 

 it after Mr. Scott B. Wilson ^), to whom science is so highly 



1) The identity with Pennula ecaadata (King) seems therefore rather 

 doubtful, as already mentioned by Dr. Hartlaub. 



2) This gentleman, in company of the artist, came over from England only 

 for describing and figuring the bird in question. 



Notes fron the Leyden Miiseum, Vol. XX. 



