186 
Dr. A. Gunther on the Occurrence of 
even flapped them ; the muscles, too, are too weak for flight. 
Except mosquitoes there was hardly an insect, and none that 
I did not know; very few spiders of a horned kind and large 
red ants were the only ones I saw, both African. There was 
a complete scarcity of all life, except sea-birds, frigate birds, 
boobies, terns, &c., which were found in thousands. 7 ’ 
Thus the dove which is said to occur in Aldabra (Turtur 
aldabranus ) does not appear to have been seen by Captain 
Wharton. 
The two rails mentioned by Capt. Wharton seem to have 
died shortly after the date of his letter ; for I received from 
him in December last two skins, one of which, at least, shows 
by the shortening of the claws that it had been kept in 
captivity. They are so similar to Eallus gularis from Mada¬ 
gascar in size and coloration, that, on first inspection, their 
identity with that bird seems beyond a question. The rufous 
colour of the head, neck, and chest, the blackish longitudinal 
streaks on the back, the sharply defined white patch on the 
throat, the white- and black-banded under wing-coverts, the 
white under tail-coverts, and, in the adult, the red colora¬ 
tion of the basal portion of the beak are exactly as in 
the typical form from Madagascar*. Of the two specimens one 
is adult: its abdomen and the tibial feathers are of a uniform 
dull brown colour; and the under wing-coverts are greyish 
ash with narrow white fasciolas. In the younger bird the ab¬ 
dominal and tibial feathers are brownish grey, neatly banded 
with white, each feather having a rufous tinge towards the 
tip. The under wing-coverts are nearly black, and the white 
bands broader than in the adult. This stage of plumage is 
exactly the same as in two specimens from Madagascar in the 
British Museum. Thus, with regard to coloration, there is 
nothing to indicate any difference between the Madagascar 
and Aldabra birds. 
Neither is there any difference as regards size generally. On 
the other hand, an incipient reduction in the length of the 
wing is very conspicuous ; this might have been expected as 
the consequence of insulation within so small an area. But, 
singularly, this reduction is not compensated by a greater de¬ 
velopment of the legs; on the contrary, the legs have become 
shorter (and weaker) in the Aldabra bird, as will be seen 
from the accompanying measurements:— 
* Hartlaub (Vogel Madagascar’s, p. 337) introduces into bis diagnosis 
of this bird, “ uropygio pallidissime rufescente fasciolato.” In the four 
specimens I have examined, the uropygial feathers are of the same uni¬ 
form brown, which is the principal colour of the feathers of the back. 
