127 



CABALUS HUTTON. 



Cabalus Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst. Vol. VI p. 108, pi. XX (1874 — T YP e and unique species 

 Cabalus modestus). 



CAPTAIN HUTTON characterized his new genus as follows: "Bill longer 

 than the head, moderately slender and slightly curved, compressed in 

 the middle and slightly expanding towards the tip ; nostrils placed in 

 a membranous groove which extends beyond the middle of the bill, openings 

 exposed, oval, near the middle of the groove. Wings very short, rounded ; 

 quills soft, the outer webs as soft as the inner, fourth and fifth the longest, 

 first nearly as long as the second ; a short, compressed claw at the end of 

 the thumb. Tail very short and soft, hidden by the coverts. Tarsi moderate, 

 shorter than the middle toe, flattened in front, and covered with transverse 

 scales ; toes long and slender, inner nearly as long as the outer, hind toe 

 short, very slender, and placed on the inner side of the tarsus ; claws short, 

 compressed, blunt. 



"The bird is incapable of flight, and the stomach of the specimen, 

 dissected by Dr. Knox, contained only the legs and elytra of beetles." 



Captain Hutton also adds, I.e., a valuable description of the skeleton. 

 One species known. 



CABALUS MODESTUS (HUTTON). 



(Plate 28.) 



Rallus modestus Hutton, Ibis 1872, p. 247. (Mangare, Chatham Islands.) 

 Cabalus modestus Hutton, Trans. New Zeal. Inst. VI p. 108. (The genus Cabalus 

 established.) 



"Rallus dieffenbachii juv." Buller, B. New Zealand, Ed. I pp. 179, 180; Ed. II p. 121 (1888). 

 Cabalus dieffenbachii (part., juv.!) Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXIII p. 47 (1894) 5 corr. 

 P- 33* 



Cabalus modestus Forbes, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club. No. IV. p. XX (Dec. 1892) ; Salvadori, 

 op. cit. V p. XXIII (Jan., 1893) 5 Forbes, Ibis 1893, PP- 532, 544, pi. XIV, fig. 4, egg ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXIII p. 331 (1893); Buller, Suppl. B.N.Z. I p. 45, pi. Ill 

 (1905)- 



Ocydromus pygmaeus Forbes, Nature XLVI, p. 252 (1892— nomen nudum! cf. Ibis 1893, 

 P- 544)- 



CAPTAIN HUTTON (Ibis 1872, p. 247) described this interesting 

 species as follows : " Olivaceous brown, bases of the feathers 

 plumbeous ; feathers of the breast slightly tipped with pale fulvous, 

 those of the abdomen and flanks with two narrow bars of the same colour; 



