380 STRUCTUEE AND CLASSIFICATION OP BIEDS 



tendency of many existing rails which either do not fly 

 much or are but feebly fitted for flying. 



It is particularly upon small islands that these flightless 

 rails have been discovered, both living and fossil, and in 

 islands where loss of flight may be regarded as having been 

 of less importance as a disadvantage in the struggle for 

 existence. Thus in New Zealand there was (until recently) 

 the large Notornis, whose skeleton has been described by T. J. 

 Paeker.^ The last living specimen was taken in 1879. From 

 the Chatham Islands are known Palceolimnas chathamensis 

 and Nesolivmas Dieffenbachii. The skeletons of these rails 

 have been described by H. 0. Foebes,^ Milne-Edwards,' 

 and Andrews ; * the latter by Andrews. N'esolimnas ap- 

 pears to be not yet extinct ; the former species is. Another 

 form from the Chatham Islands was originally described 

 under the generic name of Aphanapteryx, and supposed to 

 be congeneric with A. Broecki of Mauritiiis. Both of these 

 birds have been dealt with by Milne-Edwards and Andrews. 

 Diaphorapteryx Hawkinsi was a largish rail, with the keel of 

 the sternum much reduced, being about half the height of 

 the keel of the flying Hypotcenidia celebensis and slightly 

 less than that of Ocydromus. The scapula and coracoid 

 make an exceedingly wide angle, as in all flightless birds — 

 about 130 degrees. The resemblances of Diaphorapteryx to 

 Aphanapteryx are set down by Andrews and Gadow to 

 parallelism of development, and not to real affinity. 



Palceolimnas chathamensis is not, as was at one time 

 thought, identical with Fulica Newtoni of Mauritius ; it may, 

 however, be the same as Fulica prisca of New Zealand. 

 The bird is much like Fulica in osteological characters, the 

 principal difference being the large size of the impressions 



' ' On the Skeleton of Notornis ManteUi,' Tr. N. Zeal. Inst. xiv. (1881), p. 

 245. 



2 In Nature, xlv. (1892), p. 416 ; ibid. p. 580 ; and Ibis, 1893, p. 254. 



" ' Sur les Ressemblances qui existent entre la Faune,' &c., Ann. Sci. Nat. 

 (8), ii. 1896, p. 117. 



■* ' On the Extinct Birds of the Chatham Islands,' parts i. and ii. ; Novitates 

 Zool. iii. p. 73 et seq., p. 260 et seq. ; and ' Note on the Skeleton of Diaphor- 

 apteryx Hawkinsi,' Geol. Mag. 1890, p. 337. 



