NOTES AND QUERIES. 25 



Mountain, in Kerry. It will be remembered that, in 1846, Thompson, 

 from a description sent to him by Mr. Richard Chute, announced this bird 

 as Porphyrio hyacinthinas of Temminck (Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. xviii. p. 31 1). 

 Mr. W. Andrews subsequently saw this specimen at Chute Hall, where it 

 still remains, and considered it to be the Martinico Gallinule (Ionornis 

 martinica), an identification which Thompson accepted as correct, and 

 under this name mentions the bird in his * Natural History of Ireland ' 

 (Birds, vol. ii. p. 331, footnote). Having asked the assistance of Mr. J. C. 

 Neligan, he and Lord Ventry have very kindly interested themselves in 

 the matter, with the result that, a few weeks ago, Lord Ventry brought up 

 to Dublin a bird of his own, which is labelled as having been obtained " in 

 a cabbage-garden near Odorney, on the River Brick, near Bally heigne Bay, 

 10th October, 1873," and which, rather to my surprise, proves to be an 

 undoubted example of Porphyrio smaragnotus. Lord Ventry further 

 assures me that bis bird is identical with the " Martinico Gallinule" pre- 

 served at Chute Hall, so that in all probability we must now conclude that 

 the latter also is P. smaragnotus, and that Lord Ventry 's specimen is a 

 second example of the same species, which, of the two Porphyrios, might 

 have been thought the less likely to occur in Ireland. Mr. Neligan and 

 Lord Ventry very kindly tried to obtain for me the loan of the original 

 specimen, but this was not found possible, as the bird is locked up in a 

 glass case, and the owner was absent from home, so that I could not 

 examine it myself; but it may be added that in Mr. Chute's description, 

 as quoted by Thompson, the bird is described as having the back and 

 shoulders bottle-green, and that Thompson found Mr. Chute's measurements 

 to agree with those of Porphyrio hyacinthinus (caruleus), which is a much 

 larger bird than Ionornis martinica. — A. G. More (74, Leinster Road, 

 Dublin). 



Porphyrio smaragnotus and P. caeruleus in Ireland.— In addition to 

 the two examples of Porphyrio smaragnotus above mentioned under my 

 note on the Irish Martinico Gallinule, and both of which were obtained in 

 Kerry, Mr. J. H. Gurney informs me that there is an Irish specimen of 

 P. cceruleus, but unfortunately without date or locality, in the collection of 

 Mr. John Marshall, of Taunton. — A. G. More (74, Leinster Road, Dublin). 



[Perhaps Mr. Marshall will kindly communicate the history of this 

 specimen. — Ed.] 



Reported Occurrence of the Black-winged Stilt near Nottingham 

 an error. — I was sorry to let the December number of ' The Zoologist ' 

 be published without a letter from me of explanation about the Black- 

 winged Stilt, stated (p. 337) to have been killed at or near Nottingham. 

 Correspondence with Mr. J. Whitaker, of Rainworth, and with Mr. Cording, 

 of Cardiff, has since led me to believe that the Stilt in question was never 



