12 



LORD HOWE ISLAND. 



quoted, remarks that ia one of Lieut. P. Gr. King's (tlio first Grovernor of 

 J^orfolk Island) reports from thence, mention is made of a bird " not unlike 

 the Guinea-fowl, except in colour (being chiefly white)."* Grovernor 

 Phillip, likewise, in his " Voyage to Botany 33ay,"t gives as the localities 

 of this bird, Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands. Either under the above 

 name, or as Qalinula alba, Latham, or Porpliyrio alba, Grray, the White 

 (xallinule was known, until Dr. von Pelzeln, in a paper on the " Birds 

 of Norfolk Island,"! and again, in another on the " Birds in the Imperial 

 Collection at Yienna,"§ pointed out its affinity with the quasi-extinct 

 jSTcw Zealand genus JSTotornis, Owen, and of which it forms only the 

 second species known. Pelzeln believes the skin in the Imperial Collec- 

 tion at Vienna to be White's original specimen, as it was purchased at 

 the sale of the Laverian Museum. Mr. Q-. II. Grray, in a " List of the Birds 

 of New Zealand and adjacent Islands," || mentions Porpliyrio alba as coming 

 from Norfolk Island and described it as " entirely white, but some differ in 

 having bright blue between the shoulders, and spotted on the back with the 

 same." He further adds : — "It is stated that a similar bird was found on 

 Lord Howe Island, which was incapable of flight. The wings of the male 

 were beautifully mottled with blue." And again he further states : — "The 

 young are said to bo black, then they become bluish-grey, and afterwards 

 pure white." In 18G9 the venerable Dr. Gr. Bennett l| spoke of the AVhite 

 Grallinule as formerly found on both islands, although at that time extinct. 



An excellent opportunity was afforded Mr. E. S. Hill, in 1870, of ascer- 

 taining the state of matters at Lord Howe respecting this bird, when he 

 accompanied Mr. Cloete's ExpcditJo]i. In his pamphlet the following remarks 

 are made; — "There were also white birds like a G-uinea-fowl. All that we 

 could niow learn of any bird of this kind was that once or twice large birds 

 at certain seasons, and within the past two years, have been seen, the colour 

 of which was bluish wings, with slate-coloured body, but having a remark- 

 able double red comb. This, with the exception of a double red comb, 

 answered pretty well to the description oi porphyria or red-bill of Australia ; 

 and probably the male birds only exist now, as evidently all the larger birds 

 seen both here and at Norfolk Island in 1788 were white birds, probably 

 females."** Messrs. 8alvin and Sclaterft, when noticing this statement, say, 

 " This bird is very probably the same as the species from Norfolk Island, 

 described by Latham as Qallinula alba." With the exception of the skin in 

 the Imperial collection at Vienna, there appears to be only one other in 

 existence, which is said by Professor A. NowtonJ J to be in the Derby Museum 

 at Liverpool. An excellent figure of this bird has been given by Mr. O. 

 Salviu,|| [[ taken from a sketch by Von Pelzeln of the typo skin. The feathers 

 o£ the neck and breast possessed a yellowish tinge, those of the remainder of 

 the body with a delicate indication of blue, the legs yellow, the bill, forehead, 

 and iris of the eye red. I have referred at this length to Notornis alba with 

 the view of attracting notice to a probably extinct and little known bird, a 



* Hill's Lord Howe, Inland, loc. c.it., p. 8. 



+ London, 2nd edit., 1790, p. 160. 



+ Reviewed in the Ibis, 1800, p. 421. 



§ Ibis, 1873, p. 14. 



II Ibis, 1862, p. 214. 



H Proc. Zool. Soc, 1869, p. 471. 



** Hill's Lord Home Island, loc. cit., p. 46. 



ft Index of the Ornithological Literature of 1870, Ibi 



Zi Ibis, 1860, p. 159, note. 



\\i\Ibis, 1873, p. 295, t. 10. 



1871, pp. 417 and 443. 



