

PENNULA SANDVICENSIS. 



" Sandwich Rail/' Latham, Syn. iii. p. 236 (1785). 



Rallus sandwichensis, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 717 (1788) ; Tiedemann, Anat. und Naturgesch. 



Vog. ii. p. 434 (1814) ; Vieillot, N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. ed. 2, xxii. p. 564 (1817) ; id. Tabl. 



Encyclop., Oru. p. 1069 (1823). 

 Rallus sanduicensis, Latham, Ind. Orn. p. 759 (1790). 



Zapornia sandwichensis, Reichenbach, Handb. sp. Orn., Rasores, tab. cix. figg. 1184, 1185 (1846). 

 Corethrura sandwichensis, Gr. R. Gray, Gen. B. iii. p. 595 (1846). 

 Porzana sandvicensis, Hartlaub, Arch, fiir Naturgesch. 1852, i. p. 137. 

 Ortygometra? sandwichensis, G. R. Gray, Cat. B. Trop. Isl. p. 52 (1859) (partim). 

 Ortygornetra sandvicensis, Dole, Proc. Boston Soc. N. H. xii. p. 302 (1869) ; id. Hawaiian Alman. 



1879, p. 53 {partim) \ 

 Rallus sandvichensis, Hartlaub, Abhandl. naturw. Vereins zu Bremen, xii. p. 397 (1892) (partim). 

 Pennula ecaudata, Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mns. xxiii. p. 114 (partim, sed minime P. sandwichensis, 



ejusd. torn. cit. p. 336) (1894). 

 Pennula sandwichensis, Stone, Proc. Acad. N. S. Philad. 1894, p. 147. 



Relying on the statement of Schlegel (Museum des Pays-Bas, JRalli, pp. 25, 26) that 

 the Ley den Museum possessed a specimen of the Rallus sandwichensis of Gmelin, 

 which had been procured on Cook's voyage, I went to Holland, being anxious to 

 examine the alleged unique example of an extinct species, and to obtain a drawing of 

 it by Mr. Frohawk, who accompanied me for that purpose. Arrived at Leyden we 

 were most kindly received by Dr. Finsch ; but it immediately became evident that the 

 specimen did not correspond with the "Sandwich Rail" of Latham, on which Gmelin's 

 name was based, and Dr. Finsch, considering it to belong to an undescribed species, 

 gave shortly after an account of it (Notes from the Leyden Museum, xx. pp. 77-80), 

 and did me the honour of calling it Pennula wilsoni. 



No living example of the Sandwich Rail has apparently been met with within human 

 memory, and it may be safely asserted that no specimen exists in any Museum. I 

 have therefore thought it advisable to give a facsimile copy by Mr. Frohawk of the 

 drawing of it (no. 70) by W. W. Ellis in the British Museum (Natural History). This 

 drawing, it will be seen, is signed by the artist and dated 1779, besides having the 

 words " Sandwich Isles " written on the back, apparently by him. The bird is 



1 The description of the species given by Mr. Dole is that of 0. quadristrigata, copied from Finsch and 

 Hartlaub (Orn. Centralpolynesiens, p. 165). 



