134 Appendices 
position that this Oiseau bleu was such a species of Porphyrio, is 
strongly supported by the fact that the various species of the 
genus range from the most southern part of Europe, over the 
whole of Africa, Madagascar, the East Indies to further India, 
Australia, and New Zealand, and that thus the Mascarene Islands 
are contained within the geographical area of this form. That 
the Oiseau bleu was bigger than the species of Porphyrio known 
to us, is an objection which will fall when we consider that 
Notornis also exceeds remarkably the remaining species; and 
that the southern hemisphere produces other species of the 
family more or less gigantic in proportion, and at the same time 
often different, as, for instance, Notornis under Porphyrio, Tri- 
bonyx, and our Giant 1 under Gallinula, Fulica gigas of Peru 
among the Coots, and finally the gigantic and strange Palamedece, 
which, however, inhabit the whole of tropical America. That 
the Oiseau bleu had wings not fit for flight must not surprise us, 
as Notornis has similar wings, and as, moreover, a considerable 
number of other birds in the Mascarene Islands, as also in New 
Zealand, exhibit the same peculiarity: for instance, in New 
Zealand, besides Notornis , there are Ocydromus , the Kiwis 
(Apteryx), and the Moas (Dinornis, Palapteryx , etc.), and in the 
Mascarene Islands the different species of Dodos—besides that 
the wings of the Giant Waterhen seem to have been shorter than 
is usually the case. Of the Oiseau bleu it is said that it ran 
extremely fast. Although now this characteristic belongs to the 
Waterhens in general, it is yet especially mentioned with regard to 
Notornis . 2 Finally, the colours of our Oiseau bleu , both of its 
feathers and its bill and feet, agree with those of Porphyrio , and 
fit, indeed, no other genus of birds of this form, size, or habits. 
So much for the Oiseau bleu . . . .’ 
The bird now described by us may be placed in the system 
with the following attributes :— Porphyrio (Notornis ?) C./ERU- 
LESCENS. 
‘ Oiseau bleu,’ D.B., Manuscript Journal [penes Soc. Zool. 
Lond.], p. 183 : Strickland, op. cit., p. 59. 
Les Voyages faits par le Sieur D.B. aux Isles Dauphine ou 
Madagascar, Bourbon ou Mascarene, es annees 1669-70-71 6° 
72. (Paris 1674), p. 170. 
1 The G£an of Leguat. Vide Hakluyt edition of Leguat’s Voyages , vol. ii. 
PP- 363-370. 
2 Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, vol. iv. p. 70. 
