Order EALLIFOEMES.l 



[Family EALLID^E. 



PORPHYEIO MELANONOTUS. 



(SWAMP-HEN.) 



Porphyrio melanonotus, Temm. ; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, ii., p. 79. 



Since the publication of ' The Birds of New Zealand ' several instances of albinism, more or less 

 complete, have been recorded. I exhibited, at a meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society, 

 a very curious example that I had received from Nelson. In this bird all the primaries in each 

 wing are crossed near the tip with a broad band of yellowish-white ; the secondaries are similarly 

 marked, but not so sharply, and so are most of the wing-coverts, imparting a mottled appearance 

 to the upper surface. The tail-feathers are broadly tipped with yellowish-white, and there are a 

 few scattered white feathers on the shoulders and on the underparts. The rest of the plumage is 

 normal. A partial albino obtained at Lake Ellesmere has the entire body varied with pale-brown 

 and white feathers intermixed with the ordinary plumage, the feathers composing the mantle being 

 almost entirely pale-brown and brownish-white ; wings and tail normal, except that the primaries 

 are whitish on the outer vane towards the base ; under tail-coverts pure white. Another 

 specimen from the same district has a few white feathers scattered over the breast, and among 

 the wing-coverts, whilst all the quills and tail-feathers are pure white, with terminal bands of 

 brownish-black. 



I take this opportuity of mentioning a Swamp-hen from the Chatham Islands described as 

 new T by Dr. Bowdler Sharpe under the name of Porphyrio cJiathamensis (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 

 xxiii., p. 202). He gives the following diagnosis of the species : " Similis P. bello, sed gutture toto 

 nigro, pileo concolore ; praepectore saturate cyaneo ; tibiis nigris, abdomine imo concoloribus"; and 

 he adds, " The tints are difficult to describe, but the differences are well seen on comparison with 

 P. bellus." It seemed to me highly improbable that there should be a differentiated species of 

 this widely-spread form at the Chathams, and, although holding Dr. Sharpe's judgment in great 

 respect, I went to the British Museum to examine the type for myself. A single glance satisfied 

 me that the supposed new species was nothing but our ordinary Swamp-hen in an unusual, but 

 by no means uncommon, phase of plumage. The dark head and throat, the highly-coloured breast 

 and dark underparts are merely individual differences of colour, and have no specific value. I 

 would undertake to pick out several birds exactly similar to Dr. Sharpe's at the close of a day's 

 shooting in any locality where Pukekos are numerous. 



The Swamp-hen of New Zealand is abundant at the Chatham Islands, and the existence 

 there of another species of so diffuse a form seemed on the face of it most unlikely. I thought I 

 had satisfied Dr. Sharpe as to the unreliability of this form as a species, but I observe that it is 

 accorded full rank in his recently published ' Handlist of Birds.' 



Writing to me from Bangitikei, Mr. Robert Wilson says : "I obtained two specimens of 

 Pukeko which are partial albinoes, but the pure white one I had seen I was not able to get, 

 though he was seen again." 



Mr. Roberts, of Hokitika, informs me that when engaged on a trigonometrical survey he 

 found the dead body of a Pukeko on a mountain top, above the snow-line, at an elevation of fully 

 7 000 feet. This is very curious, and reminds one of the alleged fondness of Notomis for the 

 mountain summit. 



