RAILS. 181 



The ixirple-gallinules, as typified by the European species (Porp/iyno porphyrio) 

 ami tlie American Joiioniis inarfiitica, arc stoutly built birds with a high and 

 strong bill, front:d shield, long toes without lateral membrane, and a beautiful plu- 

 mage mostly of a brilliant blue color. Tlie long toes enable them to walk readily 

 over tlie water plants, and "the large foot is frequently cmjiloyed to hold the food, 

 very mucli in the maimer of a parrot, while the bird is eating." 



Precisely the same relation as liave the wekas to the true rails is held by Nbloniis 

 and Aptoniis, the latter entirely extiiut, the former only j)artially so, to the purple 

 gallinules. On account of the peculiarities caused by the reduction of the wings they 

 niinht be regarded as rather distinct, but recent discoveries and examination of ami)le 

 material has shown them to be quite Italline, though Ap(onu.i, in its sternal modifi- 

 cations (the breadth of the breast-bone being greatly reduced and the place of the 

 keel only " indic.ited by a mere low obtuse ridge), has departed further from the exist- 

 ing forms." JTotoniis is entirely extinct on the northern island of New Zealand, 

 but on the southern island three living specimens of the 'moho,' or 'pukeko,' 

 (JVi mantelli) have been taken within this century up to a very recent date. The last 

 survivors of this doomed bird liavc been taken in localities nearly a hundred miles 

 apart, and at intervals of twenty-two, and twelve years, so that possibly a few more 

 may still be alive in some secluded si>ot. The first specimen was taken by seal-fishere 

 in 1847, the third one by a rabbit-hunter in 1881. 



A gentle transition to the true gallinules is formed by the so-called UnhroplUa 

 xeaUacii from the Moluccan island Gilolo, a form with a remarkable lax plumage, and 

 so short and weak wings, that it must be unable to fly, meeting in this respect a true 

 gallinule from the Samoan Islands, which Ilartlaub and Fiiisch have called Pareudi- 

 astis pacificus. The large eyes indicate nocturnal habits, and ^Ir. S. J. Whitmee 

 tells that the natives positively assured him that the ' punahe ' burrows in the ground 

 and nests in the burrow. It was formerly more common, and is, like all birds deprived 

 of flight, and confined to a restricted locality, doomed to an early extinction. The 

 gallinules jiroj)er, as rejiresented by our so-called Florida gallinule (Ga/li'ntila ffol- 

 eata) and the Euroj)ean moor-hen (C cidoropus) form a small group scattered all over 

 the warmer and temperate regions of the globe. A near relative of the last-mentioned 

 species, which lives on the lonely island Tristan d'Acunha in the South Atl.antic, and 

 h.a9 been described by Dr. Sclater as G. nesiolis is worth mentioning, since it most 

 conclusively illustrates the effect of isolation by reducing the sternal apparatus and the 

 power of flight, concomitant with increasing the size ami the strength of the hind ex- 

 tremities. In the external ajppearance and coloration the 'island-hen' dilTei-s only 

 little from the moor-hen, wliich may be regarded as the parent stock, but the form is 

 shorter and thicker, and the legs stouter, though the toes are not longer. The wing, 

 however, is shorter, and the feathers remarkably soft ami inferior in size. Still more 

 striking are the differences in the skeleton, for in G. cfdoropus the ]iroportion between 

 the size of the bre.ist-bone to that of the pelvis is as 4i to 4, while in G. uaiotis it is .as 

 3} to 5 ; in other words, in the former the breast-bone is larger than the pelvis, in the 

 latter the pelvis is larger than the breast-bone. It is thprrforo easy to understand 

 that the specimen which was brought alive to London could only " flutter a little, but 

 obviously uses its logs and not its wings as a mode of escape from its enemies." 



The Last .and most speci.ilized groups of the R.allid.-e consist of the coots, exempli- 

 fied by our American species, Fidica amen'ca, to which is closely related the Euro- 

 pean coot, J^. atra. The character which at once distinguishes them from the other 



