180 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Art. XII. — On a Neiu Bail from the Auckland Islands. 



By the Hon. Waltee Eothschild. 



Communicated by Captain F. W. Hutton, F.E.S. 



(Extract from "Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club," No. VIII., 

 -' 19th April, 1893.) 



[i?earf before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 2nd August, 



1893.] 



Rallus muelleri, sp. n. 

 Upper sm-face of head, occiput, and neck brownish-red, faintly 

 and irregularly striated with black ; back and rump bright 

 chestnut, with the centres of the feathers black ; wings 

 brownish-black, faintly edged with rufous-grey ; cheeks red- 

 dish-grey; centre of the throat reddish- white; lower part of 

 the throat and breast rufous-grey ; flanks, abdomen, and under 

 tail-coverts black, each feather tipped with pale-rufous, and 

 with two white bands ; tail rufous, with indistinct grey bauds. 

 Wing, 3-3in. ; culmen, 1-lin. ; tarsus, 1-lin. ; central toe with 

 claw, I'Sin. ; tail, l-3in. 



Hab. Auckland Islands, south of New Zealand. 



Bemarks.- This little Eail in general appearance resembles 

 Balliis lewini, from Australia, but, on comparison, presents so 

 many important differences that it might also be separated 

 generically. The chief distinguishing feature of the new 

 species is the enormous development of the feathers on the 

 back and rump, which have become a huge bunch like that of 

 the Puff-birds (Bucco) of South America. 



The single specimen was sent for description by Count Von 

 Berlepsch, who considered it to belong to a new species. It 

 is the property of the Stuttgart Museum. 



