| 

NOTES ON SOME RARE BIRDS IN THE LORD DERBY MUSEUM. 65 

| Culmen 
| and | Mid-Toe | Claw Hind Toe| Claw 
Frontal | and of and 0 
Wing. | Shield. | Tarsus. Claw. |Mid-Toe.| Claw. Hin! Toe. 






5. Notornis —-mantelli. \ | 
(Length 20in.), fide}; 9:0 | 3-20 RTO NrudsM scares: || Paanost aes 
Sharpe. ) | 3°02 
6. Notornis alba* - - | 4°92 | 3°02 | 3:24 | 954) 119 188 | “45 
tbe I ies 

I fail to quite comprehend Mr. Rowley’s remark that the figure of his 
Porphyrio stanleyt is “quite different from Notornis” ; for the specimen as 
stuffed presented a remarkable likeness to the figure of Fulica alba in White’s 
Journal. 
In comparing Porphyrio stanleyi with P. melansnotus -— 
One point is very obvious, that the leg and toes are very different ; they 
are unlike those of any specimen of P. melanonotus in the large series with 
which I have compared it ; 
The above measurements show that in P. stanleyi the length of the 
middle toe without the claw—as the measurement is evidently made by Mr. 
Keulemans—instead of being “equal” to the tarsus, as recorded by Mr. 
Rowley, is shorter than it by “4 inch, and thus agrees with P. melanonotus and 
N. alba in this respect ; 
The wings are soft and rounded ; the wing coverts are distinctly more 
elongated ; the feathers on the back are thick, softer, and uniformly longer 
(exceeding them by half an inch in length, and extending well down on the 
tail) ; 
ne primaries are short, but still exceed the secondaries in length by 
18 inch. The first primary is the shortest ; the third (slightly the longest), 
the fourth, and the fifth are sub-equal ; the sixth, seventh, and eighth are in 
succession slightly shorter than their predecessors. The primaries are broader 
at the tips and distinctly less pointed, and altogether softer than in P. 
melanonotus ; 
The hind edge of the frontal shield (without its horny sheath) extends to 
about 2; inch behind the posterior margin of the eye. 
Comparing with Notornis mantel :-— 
The scutelle of the tarsus in P. stanleyi are longer and fewer ; 
The hind toe is considerably longer, judging in both those respects from the 
Plate by Keulemans in the Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, 
vol. iv., p. 74; 
The amount of feathering on the tibia differs also in not descending so 
near to the joint. 
Comparing with Notornis alba :-— 
N. alba. P. stanleyt. 
Middle toe [without claw] shorter Agrees. 
than tarsus (fide Rowley). 
* For these dimensions of V. alba I am greatly indebted to Dr. Hellmayr, who has 
very kindly re-measured the bird for me, and to Professor Brauer, Director, of the 
Imperial Zoological Museum in Vienna, who forwarded them to me, and to both of 
whom I beg to return my hearty thanks. 
