156 
Prof. Schlegel on some Extinct Gigantic Birds 
for one could not account it a Rail (. Rallus ), as it carries its tail 
erect and has a frontal plate, any more than a Crane (Grits), 
which genus is most allied to Rallus *. The genus Porphyrio, 
though zoologically and geographically very natural and so very 
conspicuous by the more or less fine blue colour of the feathers, 
differs really from Gallinula in no other respect than in the 
higher bill and oval nostrils, while these in Gallinula are more 
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 
elongated. Since, then, the figure of our bird shows elongated 
nostrils, and also a bill (so far as one can determine its form in 
the plate, where it is represented as seen from above) which 
seems to have been less high than in Porphyrio, and, finally, 
since its colour is very different from that of Porphyrio , we 
must accordingly range it under the genus Gallinula. 
We will now examine how far the exact proportion of the 
various parts of our bird is observed in LeguaPs figure. Since 
* [Of. Ibis, 1865, p. 533 .—Ed.] 
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