HuTToN.—On a New Genus of Rallide. ——— 109 
observations on it, but without attempting any description, for doing which 
I have not the requisite anatomical knowledge. 
The sternum (of which a front and side view, twice natural size, are given 
on Plate XX, figs. 1, 2) is very small and quadrangular in shape, the breadth 
being about ‘6 of the length, but tricted below the costal border ; the anterior 
end is deeply concave between the articular grooves for the coracoids, which 
are widely separated, and this concavity is smooth without any prominences 
or median process. The only other birds that have this remarkable concave 
outline of the anterior end of the sternum are, as far as I know, Apteryz, 
Aptornis, Didus, and, as Dr. Hector informs me, Notornis—all, it will be 
noticed, except Apteryw being extinct forms. The costal border of the 
sternum only forms one fifth of the lateral border, and has articulations for 
four sternal ribs only. The lateral processes are long and slender, commencing 
not far below the costal border, and in a line with the apex of the keel; they 
are not dilated at the ends. The keel is so much reduced as to be almost 
obsolete, as also is the furculum. The scapula makes a right angle with the 
coracoid. The pelvis is somewhat similar in shape to that of Rallus pectoralis, 
but the ilia are not expanded anteriorly, and the pelvic disc is broader in 
proportion behind, increasing in breadth regularly from the antacetabular 
portion of the ilium. The posterior outlets of the neural canal are much 
reduced, and the ilio-neural orifices quite obliterated. There are 9 dorsal and 
12 cervical vertebrz. 
The following are some of the more important dimensions :— 
Inches. 
Length of sternum to the coracoid groove ° 
Breadth dn sis dv x ue 43 
Height of keel 1 
Length of femur des EA ‘ve i 12 
» humerus vie b son Gi 95 
h coracoid ivi yes JN a 46 
» scapula & shi was e 8 
Dr. Buller, in his Birds of New Zealand (p. 180), says that he has no 
hesitation in considering my Rallus modestus as tbe young of Rallus 
dieffenbachii ; but this is unquestionably a mistake. Both the birds obtained 
by Mr. H. Travers were full-grown, one accompanied by her young one, and 
the other containing well-developed ova; they were both exactly alike in 
colour and dimensions, in neither of which do they show any approach to the 
colour and dimensions of R. dieffenbachii, as may be seen by comparing 
descriptions of the two; while in all known Rails the young soon acquire a 
plumage approaching in colour to that of the adult, and always attain their 
adult plumage before breeding. In its body, tail, wings, legs and feet, 
