Page:DawsonOrnithologicalMiscVol1.djvu/86

Rh by Sir J. Banks. Lord Stanley, £3 3s." This was the son of the 12th Earl of Derby, Edward Smith, who in 1834 became 13th Earl and was President of the Linnean and Zoological Societies. The bird is not a Gallinule ; and as Porphyrio alba, Temm., applies to the Vienna specimen (^Notornis alba^, also unique and perhaps extinct (of which presently), I have given it the above name.

There are three birds concerning which I propose to say a word or two. These are


 * Notornis mantelli, Owen. 2 known, in the British Museum.


 * Notornis alba, Pelzeln and Salvin. 1 known, in the Vienna Museum,

formerly in the Leverian Museum.


 * Porphyrio stanleyi. 1 known, in the Liverpool Museum, formerly in

Bullock's and Lord Derby's Museums.

It may be well to take Notornis mantelli first. Dr. Buller has given of this bird so good a portrait, made from the better specimen of the two in the National Collection, that, in conjunction with Mr. Gould's fine illustration (Birds of Australia, Suppl.), every one who has these works can judge for himself. There is, however, one important particular which I may mention, viz. that Notornis mantelli possesses a spur or nail on the shoulder of the wing, which escapes observation, being covered with feathers. The example figured by Dr. Buller in his ' Birds of New Zealand ' has this nail broken off on the left wing; it is very distinct on the right one. The other specimen has smaller spurs or nails (query, the female .^). Dr. Buller has written a full account of Notornis, to which I refer my readers ; also to Gould's ' Hand- book to the Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 576. The following excerpts from various authors apply to one or both of the last two birds.

In 'The Ibis' (3rd ser. vol. i. Oct. 1871, p. 443), Messrs. Sclater and Salvin speak of a pamphlet by Edward S. Hill (Sydney, 1870) on Lord Howe's Island. In this pamphlet "mention is made of a white bird like a Guinea-fowl, which, if not actually extinct, seems on a fair way to become