Genus— E ULABEORNIS. 
Eulabeornis Gould, P.Z.S. (Lond.), p. 56 (1844) . . .. E. castaneoventris. 
Hypotaenidia Reichenbach, Nat. Syst. Vog., p. xxiii. (1852) . . E. philippensis. 
Species generally larger than members of the genus Rallus, with a stouter and 
shorter bill and shorter toes. The bill is almost straight and about three times 
as long as high, often less, wdiereas the bill in Rallus is always more. The nasal 
groove is more than half the length of the culmen, but is shallower and wider 
than in the aforesaid genus, the nostrils being similar, and similarly situated. 
The culmen is generally shorter than the tarsus, which is about equal to the 
middle toe and claw. Otherwise the characters are as in Rallus. Thirty 
species and subspecies are known. 
Distribution. Australia ; Oceania ; New Zealand. 
Note. — Oallirallus lafresnayanus Verreaux and Des Murs, has been placed in the genus 
Tricholimnas created for it alone by Sharpe. The genus may be admitted on account of the 
curvature of the bill, otherwise the type is typically a member of the genus Eulabeornis 
(s. str.) : a second member of the genus Tricholimnas is Ocydromus sylvestris Sclater, which 
has no relationship with Oallirallus (= Ocydromus) and stiE less with Cabalus, where 
Sharpe placed it. This location would seem to have been made in deference to the conven- 
tional idea that the Lord Howe bird must have some connection with the New Zealand 
avifauna. Certainly it was not made through a scientific comparison of the birds, as 
O. sylvestris is as obviously congeneric with T. lafresnayanus as it differs from C. modestus 
or Nesolimnas dieffenbachii. 
191 
