Order RALLIFORMES . 
No. 71. 
Family RALLIDJE . 
PORPHYRIO ALBUS. 
WHITE SWAMP HEN. 
(Plate 46.) 
On p. 5, ante,* I gave the synonymy of the above and on p. 6 discussed the 
Rapier drawing, now reproduced on the opposite plate. 
Adult. Pure white, legs, bill and shield red ; eyes dark brown ; total length 640 mm. wing 320, 
bill with shield 104, tarsus 186, middle toe 90, hind-toe 62. Taken from the drawing. 
These measurements are obviously wrong. 
I have compared my plate (4 ante) with the unique skin in the Vienna 
Museum and consider that there was no bare space round the eye; this part 
is feathered as in the plate now reproduced. In my plate also the legs are 
perfectly done. There is a very faint tmge of blue on the wing-coverts and 
on the hack in certain lights. 
Compared with New Zealand Porphyrio melanotus, alba has the claws not so 
thin, nor so long, except the hind-claw, which equals in length those of the 
New Zealand bird. The primaries are not so pointed and the wing formula 
is the same. The third primary longest; second, fourth and fifth equal and a 
little shorter; the sixth, half an inch shorter than the fifth ; the first, one and 
a quarter inches shorter than the second. The tail-feathers are soft and not so 
stiff as those in the New Zealand birds. The artificial eye is yellow as given 
in the original drawing. The legs look yellow now they are dried, but may 
have been red in life. The measurements of the type as taken by me on 
Saturday, the 12th of October, 1929, are :— 
Total length 533 mm. : tail 82 ; wing 225 ; tarsus 89 ; middle toe 79, 
with claw 94 ; hind-toe 36, with claw 50 ; outer toe 66, with claw 80 ; inner 
toe 54, with claw 70. 
From tip of bill to end of helmet, 77 mm. 
„ „ „ „ angle of mouth, 47 mm. 
„ „ „ „ where the helmet becomes swollen, 55 mm. 
The helmet 22. The width of the bill at the eyes is 26 mm. and at the nostrils 
9 mm. ; depth at the nostrils 29 mm. The unfeathered leg above the tarsus 40. 
*Ante all through this work will mean The Birds of Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands, etc., 1928. 
