16 THE AUSTEAL AVIAN RECORD [Vol. II. 



of the Checklist Committee is therefore incomprehensible, 

 and though on page 4 a footnote reads : " Mr. Basset 

 Hull was deputed to prepare a ' List of Birds Peculiar 

 to Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands,' which list appears 

 as Appendix B to this Checklist," I can scarcely believe 

 that he is responsible for this strange manner of dealing 

 with accurate and painstaking work. In the same List 

 and place, " Ocydromus sylvestris Sclater " is used for 

 the " Rufous-winged Moor -Hen " of Lord Howe Island. 

 The same remarks apply here, as Mathews in the Birds 

 of AustraUa (Vol. I., 1911, p. 191, note) had pointed out 

 that this species would better be placed in Tricholimnas 

 Sharpe, and had no relationship with Gallirallus 

 (==: Ocydromus) : I had previously shown that Ocydromus 

 was untenable (Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., 1911, p. 22), 

 being preoccupied. In view of these citations, which are 

 only characteristic of the blunders which disfigure the 

 pages of the Official Checklist, the opening sentence, 

 " it becomes necessary to pubhsh an acceptable . . . 

 Checklist," reads very like sarcasm. 



This note is simply to record the fact that I have 

 carefully examined the unique type of Fulica alba White, 

 and it is unquestionably referable to Porphyrio, and has 

 not the least resemblance to the New Zealand bird' 

 known formerly as " Notornis mantelli" but which 

 should be called Mantellornis hocTistetteri Meyer. I 

 have carefully and many times examined the two 

 specimens of this latter bird preserved in the British 

 Museum, and also the specimen in the Otago Museum, 

 Dunedin, New Zealand, so may claim a fair acquaint- 

 ance with this species. With regard to the generic 

 position of the Lord Howe Islands Woodhen, " Ocydromus 

 sylvestris Sclater," it may be as well to add that I have 

 criticised the specimens here, and again I must endorse 

 Mathews's generic location. It has certainly no relation- 

 ship with the New Zealand Gallirallus, and in this 

 conclusion every ornithologist to whom I have shown 

 the specimens fully agrees. 



