
NOTES ON SOME RARE BIRDS IN THE LORD DERBY MUSEUM. 67 
the occiput these small plumes are considerably longer nearly twice—than 
those elsewhere on the head. Stretching from directly behind each eye round 
the occiput to its fellow of the other side, it would appear that there had 
extended (though not with absolute certainty) a pure white band. The 
character of the plumes on the top and sides of the head is very different 
from those in the same regions in any species of Porphyrio which I have 
examined. In P. melanonotus the head is covered with an abundant close, 
short, velvety plumage, each plume soft and fluffy. In P. stanleyi the plumes 
are 3 inch in length, and have a distinct stiffish mid-rib giving off from each 
side opposite rays openly arranged, very similar in appearance to the plumes 
seen in many birds only round the auricular opening. There occur also on ° 
the back of the head one or two of what seem to be incoming plumes, as if a 
moult had been in progress in the head region ; but they are so few that it 
is difficult to come to any certain decision on this point. There is no sign of 
moult on any other part of the body. The rest of the neck being entirely 
denuded of feathers, it is impossible to gather any idea of what was the 
colour or character of its covering, 
Mr. Rowley believes that our bird was young, and that it was volant. 
The bones extracted from the wing afford some evidence on these points. 
The ulna and radius on both sides are symmetrical, and they present no 
indications that the terminations of the bones were in a cartilaginous condi- 
tion. The osseous tissue is dense and compact, and the articular surfaces are 
sharp and perfect in outline with no signs of epiphyses. The bird may have 
been young, but it would seem to have been adult. That it was volant I 
somewhat doubt ; for the wing bones are short and weak (as is the fragment 
of the head of the humerus) in comparison with those of P. melanonotus taken 
out of the two smallest specimens in the Museum, viz., No. 2 (A) and No. 
5 (B) in the list given above on p. 64, as seen by the following table :— 


d es acer ale P. NEL ARONAINE A: P. stanieyi. 

J ONT eaies | 4 Ny Se aaa aa aD 3:19 2°47 
Tes, => Bee Se ede 3:0 2-94 2°31 
Width of outer space - - 0-19 0-19 0-19 
| 
The general facies of the skeleton of this portion of the wing resembles 
that of Notornis hochstetteri, with a photograph of which by Professor A. B. 
Meyer I have compared it. The interspace between the ulna and radius is at 
its widest part equal in all three specimens as seen above. In P. stanleyt it 
is therefore proportionately wider for its length. 
Of the feathers on the back some are brownish, some nearly blue, others 
greyish-blue. On the lower back there are also a few dark feathers, and 
across the scapulars and wing coverts there is a more or less symmetrical band 
of bluish feathers, some of them tipped with a pure white A. The mid- 
rectrices are blue. Over the whole body, now that it has been carefully 
washed, there is a conspicuous sheen of blue. 
According to White the Notornis alba of Norfolk and Lord Howe's Islands 
when young was “entirely black, and from that becomes bluish-grey, and 
afterwards pure white”; and “none of them could fly.” 
The above table of comparisons between Notornis alba and Porphyrio 
stanleyi shows that the similarity between the two birds is very considerable. 
The other points on which they differ from each other may perhaps be the 
result of imperfect figuring or description, and would probably disappear on a 
comparison of the actual specimens. It seems to me highly probable that the 

