Birds of Celebes; Eallidae. 
721 
furnished “a singularly small delicately formed specimen” (Layard, Ibis 1880, 
292); very large birds occur in New Caledonia; the largest race with the darkest 
upper suface is found in Australia (except the West) and New Zealand (Porphyria 
melanonotus)\ another large bird with azui'e-blue on the throat comes from West 
Australia (P. hellus Gould); and so on. 
These differences have led ornithologists, who have gone into the question 
from different collections, to arrive at their own conclusions and to express 
different opinions, and, it may be, to harbour thoughts about their predecessors’ 
work which were advisedly left unspoken. Some of the chief work on the 
genus has been done by Schlegel, Mus. P.-B., Balli, 1865, 55 — 58; Elliot, Str. F. 
1878, VII, 6—25; Salvador!, Atti Ac. Sc. Torino 1879, XIV, 1165—1170; 
Meyer, Abh. Mus. Dresd. 1891, No. 4, p. 15, 16; Sharpe, Cat. B. 1894, XXIII, 
200—206'). 
For the present it might be wisest to speak of all the races from Java to 
New Zealand as Porphyrio calvm, and when the amount of individual, sexual 
and seasonal variation, and changes due to age are known, then the local races 
may be defined and studied. 
The Blue Coot is plentiful in North Celebes. Meyer observes (c 5) that 
the birds swim well and run rather than fly. The males fight much together 
and are very noisy. They feed on fishes, but also damage the rice-fields very 
much; they eat the tip of the young plant before it has flowered. Their cry 
is tet, tet, tet, very sharp and loud. No specimens except those of Mr. Wallace 
are on record from South Celebes, where it may be rarer. In Fiji Layard (el) 
found that it fed on fish, crabs, insects, sugar-cane, and berries, to get which 
it perches on trees. A pair in captivity pecked out the brains of some young 
Parrots, and a similar observation has been made by Canon Tristram on an 
allied Blue Coot, which treated a young duckling in this manner. In feeding 
the Australian bird was observed by Dr. Bennett always to take its food in its 
foot, so eating it like a Parrot. 
310. POKPHYRIO PULVERULENTUS T emm. 
Philippine Blue Coot. 
Porphyrio pulverulentus (I) Temm., PL Col. Y, pL 405 (1826); (II) Echb., Hb. Fulicariae 
t. CVni, figs. 1098—99 (1852); ( 3 ) Wald., Tr. Z. S. 1872, VUI, 92; ( 4 ) id., ib. 
1875, IX, 228; (oj Steere, List Coll. B. & M. Pliilipp. Is. 1890, 25; (6) Sharpe, 
Cat. B. 1894, yxm , 207; ( 7 ) Bourns & Wore., B. Menage Exp. 1894, 30. 
1) As latest authority Dr. Sharpe wiU probably be followed until yet another system is advan^d; we 
do not, therefore, hesitate to say that in our opinion Di’, Sharpe’s treatment of Porphyrio is, for him, sur- 
prisingly disappointing. Two specimens from Viti Levu are placed under P. ellioti, two others from the same 
island under another species; the specimens from New Britain are placed under one species smaragdinus, 
Meyer’s name thereto, neobrittanieus, is made a synonym of another, ellioti; a bird from the N.W. end of New 
Guinea, Dorey, is identified with Australian ones, though shown to differ; specimens from S.E. New Guinea 
are made a different bird; an assortment of specimens from all sorts of localities constitutes species Nr. 10; 
and Temminok’s name, smaragdinus, is removed from the Javan bird and conferred upon this! 
Meyer &, Wiglesworth, Birds of Celebes (Dec. Is*, 1897). 91 
