GRALLATORES. 



309 



2. PORPHYRIO VITIENSIS, Pcole. 

 Porphyrio vitiensis, Peale, Zool. Exp. Exp. Birds, p. 221 (1st edition, 1848). 



Capite, collo, pedore et humeris ultvamarinis, tergo, alls et cauda olivaceo- 

 fuscis. Abdomine purpwascente-coeruleo, crissis cdhis. Long, tot, 13 

 pollices. 



Form. — Typical, much smaller than the preceding. Bill rather short, 

 high at base, and rather abruptly tapering ; frontal extension mode- 

 rate, circular ; wing rather long, fourth quill longest ; tertiaries long; 

 tail short ; legs robust ; tibia naked for about one-third of its length 

 next the tarsus ; toes long. Quills pointed. 



Dimensions. — Total length (of skin), about thirteen inches ; wing, 

 eight inches ; tail, two and a half inches ; bill to gape, one and one- 

 fourth inches ; tarsus, two and one-fourth inches ; middle toe, three 

 inches. 



Colors. — Head, neck, breast, and shoulders, ultramarine blue, 

 darker on the occiput and neck behind, and tinged with purple ; back, 

 wings, and tail, dark olive-brown ; quills on their outer edges greenish- 

 blue; abdomen dull purplish-blue; under tail-coverts white. Bill and 

 tarsi light colored, the former probably red, the latter yellow. 



Hab. — Feejee Islands. Specimen in Nat. Mus. Washington. 



This is a species very much resembling the preceding, but much 

 smaller, and with the frontal plate comparatively restricted. We re- 

 gard it as a bare possibility, that it is the young of that bird, but on 

 account principally of its marked difference in size, and also of the 

 fact that it inhabits a different group of islands, at present we regard 

 it as a distinct and hitherto undescribed species. 



In form, this bird is strictly the same as P. smaragdinus, and other 

 typical species. It is, however, one of the smallest known species of 

 this genus. 



The following is the only note that we find on record relating to 

 this bird, and is by Mr. Peale : 



78 



