180 



on both vanes ; wing-coverts similar to the plumage of the back, but largely tinged with chestnut ; tail- 

 feathers dark rusty brown, with rufous margins in their basal portion. Examined individually, the 

 feathers of the back are blackish brown, crossed by two broad undulating bands of fulvous ; those of the 

 breast have the bands broader and more regular; those covering the abdomen and sides of the body are 

 black, with two equidistant bars and a narrow terminal margin of white. Iridcs reddish brown ; bill 

 light brown, darker towards the tip ; tarsi and toes light brown. Total length 12*25 inches ; wing, 

 from flexure, 4 - 75 ; tail 3"25 ; bill, along tbe ridge l - 45, along the edge of lower mandible 1*5 ; tarsus 

 l - 5 ; middle toe and claw 175 ; hind toe and claw - 6. 



Young. General plumage dull olive-brown, plumbeous at the base ; throat greyish, each feather tipped with 

 brown ; feathers of the breast narrowly fringed with pale fulvous ; those covering the upper part of 

 abdomen and sides of the body, as well as the under taihcoverts, crossed by two narrow bars of the 

 same colour ; the first three primaries very faintly barred with reddish fulvous ; tail-feathers, rump, and 

 thighs obscurely freckled with fulvous. Irides, bill, and legs light brown. The plumage is very soft in 

 texture; and the markings have the indeterminate character peculiar to young Rails. 



Chick. Uniform brownish black. 



This beautiful Rail was brought from the Chatham Islands by Dr. Dieffenbach in 1842, and 

 named by Mr. Gray in compliment to this enterprising naturalist. The adult specimen in the 

 British Museum, from which our drawing and descriptions are taken, is unique ; but after care- 

 fully comparing therewith the type specimen of Hutton's Rallus modestus (forwarded to me by 

 Dr. Hector), and submitting the matter to the judgment of other competent ornithologists, I 

 have no hesitation in considering it the same species, in an immature state of plumage. 



In answer to my inquiries, a Chatham-Island correspondent, Kirihipu Eoiri Te Rangipu- 

 ahoaho, wrote as follows in August 1863 : — " Na, ko to kupu mo te manu. I ngaro tera manu, 

 te Moeriki, i te toru o nga tau i noho ai nga Maori ki tenei moutere. Mehemea kei te ora taua 

 manu, maku e hopu atu mau. He manu pai taua manu. I kite au imua i taku tamarikitanga. 

 Ta nga Maori ingoa o taua manu he Popotai." [Tkanslatiost. — Now with regard to the bird. 

 This bird, the Moeriki, disappeared in the third year after the occupation of this island by the 

 Maoris. If the bird still survives I will catch you some. It was a beautiful bird. I remember 

 seeing it when I was a boy. The Maoris called it a Popotai.] But my friend Roiri, although he 

 had the stimulus of a handsome reward, never succeeded in finding the Moeriki ; and we may 

 therefore conclude that it is extremely rare, if not quite extinct, on the main island. The two 

 specimens described by Captain Hutton (I. c.) were obtained by Mr. Henry Travers on Mangare, 

 a small satellite of Chatham Island. 



