92 
are entirely blue. The tail-feathers are dark olive, mixed with verditer-green on the upper surface and 
changing to dull olive-brown, with lighter shafts, on their under surface *. 
The bill has lost its original colour through being dried. On the frontal plate and along the 
basal edges of both mandibles it appears to have been dark red, fading outwards. The culmen still 
has traces of its original pinky colour ; but the sides of both mandibles, in the present condition of 
the specimen, are reddish horn-colour, fading to whitish horn along the cutting-edges. The tarsi and 
toes appear to have been originally light red, having now faded to a transparent reddish brown, 
paler on the toes. Claws dull brown, lighter towards the tips. 
The texture and general appearance of the plumage on the head, neck, and underparts generally 
is very similar to that of the Pukeko {Porphyrio melanonotm)^ although the latter bird lacks the 
produced bright-coloured pectoral plumes which overlap the sides of the body, under the wings, in 
Notornis. The plumage of the back is very long and thick, but at the same time soft and somewhat 
s ilk y to the touch, being evidently adapted to haunts where the bird is constantly subject to drippings 
from wet herbage. On moving this plumage with the hand it is found that the basal portion, 
comprising more than two thirds of the feathers, is of a uniform blackish brown, whereas the basal 
plumage on the other parts of the body is dark grey. The plumage of the head and neck is short 
and close, as in Poryliyrio, the feathers having a soft texture. The whole of the upper surface has a 
slight sheen upon it (amounting almost to a glint on the tips of the shoulder-plumage), and the bright 
hues of colour on the back and wings change slightly under different lights. The plumage covering 
the flanks and overlapping the thighs is dense and long, while its brilliant blue and green colours 
contrast strongly with the olive plumage of the back and rump. When looked at in front, with the 
wings closed in against the body, the purplish vivid blue already described is very conspicuous. The 
carpal spur is shaped like the claw of the hind toe, but is less arched ; it is nearly one eighth of an 
inch thick at the base, and is dark brown, fading into horn-colour at the tip. 
Measurements. — Approximate length (measuring from tip of bill, following its curvature, and from 
the forehead to the end of the tail) 24*5 inches ; wing, from flexure, 10 ; from humerus to flexure 
3‘75 ; carpal spur '4 ; tail (to extreme tip) 4'75 ; bare part of tibia 1 ; tarsus 3-5 ; middle toe 3, its 
claw IT ; inner toe 2-2, its claw 1 ; outer toe 2’4, its claw "8 ; hind toe ‘75, its claw '75. Bill, from 
posterior edge of frontal plate to tip of upper mandible 3'4, from gape along edge of upper mandible 
2-5, along edge of lower mandible 2-25 ; greatest width of bill, measuring across from the summit of 
the arch, or culmen, to the junction of the rami 2. 
Ohservatims. — Taken altogether, the specimen is a very fine one — probably an adult female. 
The plumage is somewhat worn, the primaries and tail-feathers having their webs more or less 
abraded on their outer edges and tips. The edges and sides of the mandibles are considerably worn, 
indicating a fully adult state. The claws of the toes, and particularly that of the hind toe, appear to 
be much blunted by use. The colours of the plumage generally are brighter than in the supposed 
female specimen in the British Museum, but they are, I think, less brilliant on the whole than in 
the British-Museum male : notably there is an entire absence of the well-defined terminal margins 
of verditer-green on the wing-coverts which form crescentic bands in the type specimen. There are, 
however, as mentioned above, different blending shades of green and blue on the plumage of the 
* According to lladde’s ‘ JTomonelature of Colours,’ my “ olive-green ” of the back in the above descriptiwi is grass-green 
No. d mixed with yellow-green No. d ; my shades of “ verditer-green ” on the shoulder-plumage &c. correspond to blue-green 
No. P, or come between that and No. Q, with a mixture of grass-green No. K, although brighter; but there is no .standard in 
the whole of Radde’s formulary that realizes my “vivid purplish blue” — No. G comes nearest, but it lacks the depth and bril- 
liancy. It is quite obvious that where the colours run from one shade of brilliancy into another on the same feather and the 
general tone and effect vary in different parts of the same plumage, it is quite impossible to make any standard of colours 
exactly applicable for purposes of minute description. 
