Obdee EALLIFORMBS.] 



[Family RALLIM3. 



PORZANA AFFINIS. 



(MARSH RAIL.) 



Ortygometra afflnis, Gray; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 103 



There are two young birds in the Southland Museum similar to the adult, but much paler and 

 greyer, and with the barred markings on the flanks almost entirely absent ; the plumage is dull 

 brownish-grey, mixed with dark brown on the upper parts. 



Mr. Pycroft writes {I.e., p. 144) : "I have obtained two from Waikare. On dissection the 

 stomach of one contained minute shells." 



PORZANA PLUMBEA. 



(SWAMP RAIL.) 



Ortygometra tabuensis, Gmelin; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 101. 



Through the kind assistance of the late Captain Fairchild, who thought he was bringing me 

 something quite new, I received a pair of this widely spread species from one of the small 

 islands that compose the Kermadecs. A boy had practically risked his life in swimming off to 

 the island, in spite of the sharks, to procure them, so I rewarded him liberally and placed the 

 skins in my collection. 



There was an example of this Eail in a small collection of birds I received from Nuia-Foou, 

 a remote volcanic island in the Tonga group. 



Young. There is a brood of three in the Southland Museum, presumably from the same 

 nest ; they are fluffy, and blackish-brown in plumage, changing to slaty-grey, first on the breast, 

 then on the hind neck. 



Mr. Pycroft says (I.e., p. 144) that his " specimens were taken from a settler's cat." All the 

 specimens of this bird in my collection (except those from the Kermadecs) were procured in 

 a similar manner. Indeed, as I have previously mentioned, we are indebted to the household 

 cat for nearly all our museum specimens of this pretty little Eail. Mr. Hamilton (from whom 

 I have received some very perfect specimens) records that during the years 1881-83 a cat 

 belonging to one of his neighbours brought him in twelve specimens of this species, and 

 seventeen of its near ally, P. affinis. 



