BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 47 



of flight is not always easily determined. We had a domestic fowl at ray 

 father's which brought up a sitting of Pheasants, went oif with them into the 

 plantations, and became quite wild, rose up and Jlew well, exactly as a 

 Pheasant. This hen, next season, had a lot of eggs, of which I now retain 

 one, clearly a cross between a cock Pheasant and herself; she unfortunately 

 deserted the nest, from being looked at. The eggs were of the colour of a 

 Pheasant's egg, but larger. Mr, Robert 0. Cunningham, in his ' Straits of 

 Magellan,' 1871, p. 94, says of the Steamer Duck (^Anas hrachyptera, Lath. ; 

 Micropterus brachypterus, Quoy & Gaimard): — " Undoubtedly some Steamer 

 Ducks fly, and others appear to be either wholly incapable of flight or do not 

 make use of their faculties in this respect ; it is nevertheless my belief there 

 is only one species of the genus Micropterus, and that the variations in size, 

 capability of flight, and colouring of plumage are chiefly dependent on the 

 age of the birds ; secondly, it is my opinion that it is the young birds that 

 can fly, and that the power of flight or the disposition to fly diminishes with 

 age." Captain King had made a volant and a non-volant species ; now 

 Latham distinctly says of the birds of Lord Howe's Island, " none of them 

 could fly." This description never could have reference to Porphyrio stanleyi, 

 which appears to me to have escaped notice, and to be a distinct bird, unique. 



Though I have upon consideration called the Liverpool bird Porphyrio 

 stanleyi, yet it must be under grave suspicion of having come from New 

 Zealand and being only an albino variety of the Porphyrio tnelanotus of that 

 island, in which case Bullock's ' Catalogue ' as to the habitat and Mr. Gray's 

 dictum as to the genus and species are correct. It appears, however, that 

 he alluded to the Vienna bird, or confounded the two. It is true that the 

 claws are short and curved, while in P. melanotus they are long and less 

 so ; but claws are very fallible, of which I have had some experience ; and 

 if my readers will refer to the changes in the young in P. melanotus re- 

 corded in Dr. Buller's ' Birds of New Zealand ' and the albino varieties of 

 that bird which he speaks of, I think they will agree with me. 



Porphyrio stanleyi, volant, is quite distinct from Notornis mantelli, non- 



