352 GEOGRAPHICAL ZOOLOGY. [part iv. 



species ranging over half the globe. TLey are found in many re- 

 mote islands ; and in some of these — as the Gallinula of Tristan 

 d'Acunha, and the Notornis of Lord Howe's Island and New Zea- 

 land, — they have lost the power of flight. The classiti cation of 

 the Rallidae is not satisfactory, and the following enumeration of 

 the genera must only be taken as affording a provisional sketch 

 of the distribution of the group : — 



Rallus (18 sp.), Porzana (24 sp.), Gallinula (17 sp.), and 

 Fiilica (10 sp.), have a world-wide range ; Ortygometra (1 sp.), 

 ranges over the whole North Temperate zone ; Porphyrio (14 sp.), 

 is more especially Oriental and Australian, but occurs also in 

 South America, in Africa, and in South Europe ; Eidaheornis 

 (15 sp.), is Ethiopian, Malayan, and Australian; Himantornis (1 

 sp.), is West African only ; Aramides (24 sp.), is North and 

 South American ; Rallina (16 sp.), is Oriental, but ranges east- 

 ward to Papua ; Habroptila (1 sp.), is confined to the Moluccas ; 

 Pareudiastes (1 sp.), the Samoa Islands ; Tribonyx (4 sp.), is 

 Australian, and has recently been found also in New Zealand ; 

 Ocydromus (4 sp.) ; Notornis (2 sp.), (Plate XIII. Vol. I. p. 455) ; 

 and Cahalus (1 sp.), are peculiar to the New Zealand group. 



The sub-family, Heliornithinee (sometimes classed as a distinct 

 family) consists of 2 genera, Heliornis (1 sp.), confined to the 

 Neotropical region ; and Podica (4 sp.), the Ethiopian region ex- 

 cluding ]\Iadagascar, and with a species (perhaps forming criother 

 genus) in Borneo. 



Extinct Ballidce. — Eemains of some species of this family have 

 been found in the Mascarene Islands, and historical evidence 

 shows that they have perhaps been extinct little more than a 

 century. They belong to the genus Fulica, and to two extinct 

 genera, Aphanapteryx and Erythromachus. The Aphanapteryx 

 was a large bird of a reddish colour, with loose plumage, and 

 perhaps allied to Ocydromus. Erythromachus was much smaller, 

 of a grey-and-white colour, and is said to have lived chiefly on 

 the eggs of the land-tortoises. (See Ihis, 1869, p. 256 ; and 

 Proc. Zool. Soc, 1875, p. 40.) 



