46 BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 



several brown feathers, which are wanting on the left side. The three or 

 four brownish and bluish feathers on the scapularies and wing-coverts are 

 very symmetrical in their distribution. The middle tail-feathers are bluish, 

 the outer white, though many of the tail-feathers, particularly the under ones, 

 are lost. There is a very sharp nail on the inside of the wing, c^uite con- 

 cealed by feathers, about If inch from the bend of the wing. 



I have been particular in these details because this unique skin is very 

 old, was never in very good condition, and cannot be expected to last. 

 Therefore this attempt to lay before the readers of the ' Ornithological 

 Miscellany' an account of it and rescue it from the obliterating grasp of 

 time will, I hope, be looked upon with a lenient eye. 



There is no notice of the Leverian bird (the Nofornis alba of Pelzeln and 

 Salvin) in the ' Museum Leverianum ' by George Shaw, published by James 

 Parkinson, 1792. 



Several Gallinules are mentioned in Bullock's ' Catalogue ;' but there 

 is no doubt as to the identity of the bird under consideration. On the 

 twenty-first day's sale (Thursday, June 3), p. 128, lot 54, appears " Common 

 Gallinule, fr om Tristan D'Ancunha; and the Red-necked Grebe. Ryall, 7s. Od." 

 This, most likely, is the same species as the Island- Hen of Tristan d'Acunha, 

 Gallinula nesiotis, Sclater (P. Z. S. 1861, p. 260, pi. xxx.), which example is 

 now in the British Museum and is stated to have been " the first of its kind 

 that reached Europe alive or dead." Bullock's bird, if my conjecture is 

 correct, is a previous one. 



As this Gallinule is probably extinct, it would be desirable to know what 

 became of Bullock's specimen. In G. R. Gray's ' Catalogue of Grallse &c. of 

 the British Museum ' (1844) there is no mention of a Water-hen from Tristan 

 d'Acunha being in the Museum ; so that Leach probably did not buy it. 



It is stated, in the above account of GaU'mula nesiotis, " As far as can be 

 judged from the specimen in the Gardens, the bird can flutter a little, but 

 obviously uses its legs and not its wings as a mode of escape." The power 



