Birds from Henderson Island. 347 



is an indistinct dark purple band across the upper breast, 

 which is wanting in the bird from the Fanning Islands. 

 The tail is rather more wedge-shaped than in V. kuhli, the 

 middle pair of tail-feathers being proportionately some- 

 what longer. Iris yellow ; bill dark yellow ; feet and legs 

 yellowish-brown. Total length about 200 mm.; wing 125; 

 tail 90. 



The genus Vini has been characterized by Salvadori 

 [cf. Cat. Birds B. M. x\. p. 11, and Wytsman's 'Genera 

 Avium/ Psittaci, family Loriidre, p. 2) as having the first 

 three or four primaries notched at the tip ; but this 

 character is only found in a marked degree in V. australis, 

 from Samoa and the Friendly Islands, while in V. kuhli, the 

 type of the genus, it is much less apparent, as is also 

 the case in the present species from Henderson Island. 

 This character appears to be of specific rather than of 

 generic value. 



It seems pretty certain that the true home of V. kuhli is 

 the Society Group in the Islands of Tahiti, Bora-Bora, &c., 

 where it is probably now extinct, and that it must have 

 been imported subsequently to the Fanning Group. The 

 occurrence of the present species in Henderson Island 

 strengthens this view, and the geographical range of the 

 genus Vini would thus extend from Samoa and the Friendly 

 Islands, where V. australis occurs, to Henderson Island. 

 The Fanning Islands lie far to the north and are distant 

 from Samoa about 1500 miles, and from Henderson Island 

 about 3000 miles. 



PoRZANA ATRA North. 



Porzana atra North, Records Austr. Mus. vii. p. 31 

 (1908). 



For 2 ana mwrayi Ogilvie-Grant, Bull. B. O. C. xxxi. 

 p. 61 (1913). 



Adult. Perhaps most nearly allied to the widely dis- 

 tributed P. tabuensis (Gmel.), but the entire plumage is 

 deep black, with a slight greyish gloss. Iris red ; bill 

 black ; feet orange. Total length about 180 mm. ; 



