RAILS. 129 



dromtis is oiio of the nearest allies of the Apteryx. This similarity may be the simple 

 result of similar intlueiiccs acting on ilit'ferent natures, the (liniinislnni necessity for 

 the use of the anterior limbs allowing them to dwindle in both. But, with the facts 

 of geogra]ihieal distribution to back it, the opinion may be fairly maintained that 

 Aptcryx and Ocydromus had the same ancestor not far back in time. It may be said 

 that the pelvis is very different ; but the same remark partly applies to Tinamus, an 

 undoubted ally, and .1 bird also most probably of the same stock, though residing so 

 far off." ^Vitll regard to the geographical distribution, we once more refer to our 

 remark under liostnitula (p. 110), with the addition that Ocydromine birds can also 

 be traced to the islands of the Mascarene fauna. When the earliest explorers came 

 to these islands, they found the dodo and other large and strange birds which were 

 dej)rived of the power of flight. These helpless creatures very soon became extinct, 

 by the direct action of man or by the mammals which the first navigators turned 

 loose, or the first settlers brought with them. Only some old pictures, scanty descrip- 

 tions, and a heap of bones collected by Prof. Newton, are the remains from which we 

 have to construct our knowledge of these remarkable forms. A few of them were 

 brought alive to Europe, where they were figured. Among these are some paintings 

 on vellum of a curious-looking bird, with a long, sni])e-like beak and no wings, 

 altogether very much like a kiwi. It is evidently the "poule rouge au bee de Becasse," 

 from 3Iauritius, which is said by a Dutch preacher, J. C. Hoffmann, who lived there 

 in 1673-1075, to have been caught in the following manner: — 



"A rod is taken in the right hand, and the left is wrapped in a piece of red stuff, 

 which is thus shown to the birds, commonly assembled in numerous flocks. Whether 

 the red color terrifies these stupid birds, or whether it attracts them, they ap]iroach 

 the fowler almost without fear ; and he, when they are at a convenient distance, 

 strikes and seizes one. The cries which the captive uttei-s attract its companions, 

 who seek to deliver it, and thus all become the prey of the fowler." With this 

 'poule rouge,' Alphonse Milne-Edwards has identified a number of bones collected 

 in Mauritius by Edward Xewton, the examination of which resulted in the following 

 conclusion concerning the aflinities of Apliamtpteryx broeckii, as this bird has been 

 styled : " It evidently was one of the family Rallida>, and there is much less differ- 

 ence between it and Ocydrovnin than between this last and the [true] rails." 

 Another bird of the same family is the white 'g(iant,' figured and described by 

 the French colonist, Leguat, who lived on Rodriguez during the last decade of 

 the seventeenth century. Zeyiiatia giyantea, which measured six feet in height, 

 with a body as large as a goose, may possibly be a water-hen or gallinule, with frontal 

 shield. 



The common wood-hen ( 0. australh), or tlie weka, as it is called by the Maoris, is 

 as sure one day to become extinct as was Leguat's 'g^ant.' We read in Buller's 

 History of the Birds of New Zealand that "the weka is loo often killed only for mere 

 wantonness, or the pleasure of taking life. The Maoris of Arowhcnua make expedi- 

 tions in the winter for obtaining a supply of these birds, which they preserve in their 

 own fat. On one run, near Burke's Pass, 1 have been told that over two thousand 

 wekas were secured by a party of natives at one of these hunts. Numbers arc also 

 killed by the settlers for their oil, which is much esteemed for dressing saddle-straps 

 and for a variety of purj>ose8." 



Of an allied species, O. syloestri», which inhabits Lord Howe's Island, between 

 New Zealand and Australia, we have the following account by Mr. R. D. Fitzgerald : 

 vol- IV. —9 



