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W H I T E r O li P H Y RIO? 
(Porpliyrio ? albus.) 
Po. ? fronle rostro pedibusque rufis, corpore toto albo. 
Porpliyrio ? with the forehead, beak, and legs red, the entire 
body white. 
Gallinula alba. Lath. Ind. Oni. 2. 768. 
White Gallinule. Lath. Syn. Sup. ii. 327. 
Latham says of this bird that it is the " size of a 
Hen : length two feet : beak very strong, and much 
the same in shape and colour as that of the Purple 
Gallinide {Forphyrio chloropus) : a bare red space, 
in like manner, is also on the crown : imdes red : 
round the eye, the skin visible through the slender 
covering of feathers: the whole of the plumage in 
general is of a pure white : legs red : cl'Mfs brown : 
at the bend of the wing a sharp spur. Some of 
these, supposed to differ in sex, are of a bright blue 
between the shoulders, and spotted on the back with 
the same." 
These inhabit Norfolk Island, and are there very 
common : arc exceedingly tame, insomuch as to be 
easily knocked down with a stick." He proceeds to 
state his suspicion that this species is merely a variety 
of the Purple Gallinule before-mentioned ; but, in- 
dependent of the spur at the bend of the wing, its 
large size will not allow it to be associated with that 
species. 
