of flight is not always easily determined. We had a domestic fowl at ray father's which brought up a sitting of Pheasants, went off with them into the plantations, and became quite wild, rose up and flew well, exactly as a Pheasant. This hen, next season, had a lot of eggs, of which I now retain one, clearly a cross between a cock Pheasant and herself; she unfortunately deserted the nest, from being looked at. The eggs were of the colour of a Pheasant's egg, but larger. Mr, Robert O. Cunningham, in his ' Straits of Magellan,' 1871, p. 94, says of the Steamer Duck (Anas hrachyptera, Lath. ; Micropterus brachypterus, Quoy & Gaimard): — "Undoubtedly some Steamer Ducks fly, and others appear to be either wholly incapable of flight or do not make use of their faculties in this respect ; it is nevertheless my belief there is only one species of the genus Micropterus, and that the variations in size, capability of flight, and colouring of plumage are chiefly dependent on the age of the birds ; secondly, it is my opinion that it is the young birds that can fly, and that the power of flight or the disposition to fly diminishes with age." Captain King had made a volant and a non-volant species ; now Latham distinctly says of the birds of Lord Howe's Island, "none of them could fly." This description never could have reference to Porphyrio stanleyi, which appears to me to have escaped notice, and to be a distinct bird, unique.
Though I have upon consideration called the Liverpool bird Porphyrio stanleyi, yet it must be under grave suspicion of having come from New Zealand and being only an albino variety of the Porphyrio melanotus of that island, in which case Bullock's 'Catalogue' as to the habitat and Mr. Gray's dictum as to the genus and species are correct. It appears, however, that he alluded to the Vienna bird, or confounded the two. It is true that the claws are short and curved, while in P. melanotus they are long and less so ; but claws are very fallible, of which I have had some experience ; and if my readers will refer to the changes in the young in P. melanotus re- corded in Dr. Buller's 'Birds of New Zealand' and the albino varieties of that bird which he speaks of, I think they will agree with me.
Porphyrio stanleyi, volant, is quite distinct from Notornis mantelli, non-
