Part 53

White's description is as follows:--"White Fulica, with bill and front red, shoulders spined, legs and feet yellow." White's figure clearly shows the long wing coverts characteristic of the genus Notornis. Von Pelzeln says in his account of this bird that there is a label on it bearing the number 102, and giving as place of origin Norfolk Island, but White makes no mention of this. There are traces of a bluish shade, and two or three dark spots on the plumage, which has led many ornithologists to consider N. alba an albino. Gray, in "A List of Birds from New Zealand, &c.," remarked that some Norfolk Island specimens had blue between the shoulders, and the back spotted with the same colour. He also states that the young are said to be black, then become bluish grey, and afterwards pure white. From these and other authors' similar remarks I believe we have not here a case of albinism, but a bird which was in a stage of evolution towards becoming a fixed white species. Wing 9 inches (measured by myself in the Vienna Museum).

Habitat: Norfolk Island.

{145}

APTERORNIS SELYS.

"Differed widely from Didus and Pezophaps in its long beak, which resembles a little that of a woodcock, but is much stronger. These birds were high on the leg, ran swiftly, and were far removed from pigeons like the Dodo and the Solitaire, but to which they had a certain resemblance, owing to their rudimentary wings, apology for a tail, and the disposition of their digits."

The above is a translation of de Selys-Longchamps' diagnosis of the genus, but owing to his inclusion therein of Didus solitarius and Aphanapteryx bonasia, it does not fit when restricted to the "Oyseau bleu" of Le Sieur D.B. It might be described as: Resembling Aptornis, but with shorter bill and feet, thus more approaching Notornis.

One species.

APTERORNIS COERULESCENS SELYS.

(PLATE 32.)

Oyseaux bleus Le Sieur D.B., Les Voyages aux Isles Dauphine and Bourbon, pp. 170, 171 (1674).

Apterornis coerulescens Selys-Longchamps, Rev. Zool. 1848, p. 294.

The original description of the Sieur D.B. (Dubois) is as follows (translated):--"Oyseaux bleus: As big as the Solitaires; they have the plumage entirely blue, the beak and the feet red and made like those of fowls; they do not fly at all, but run extremely quickly, so that a dog can hardly catch them; they are very good."

Habitat: Bourbon or Réunion.

Dubois gives the size of these birds as the same as that of a big goose and the feet as being like those of a fowl: I have, therefore, in reconstructing the plate of this bird, had it made intermediate in structure between the New Zealand Notornis and Aptornis, which were evidently its nearest allies.

{147}

APTORNIS OWEN.

Differs from Dinornis, Palapteryx and Notornis in having an articular surface for a very strong hind toe, and the tarso-metatarsus of a conformation more nearly resembling that found in the Dodo, but shorter and thicker than in the latter. In addition, the strong calcaneal process, perforated by a complete bony canal for the tendon at the back part of the proximal end of the tarso-metatarsus; the perforation above the interspace between the condyles for the middle and outer toes; and the more posterior position for the condyle for the inner toe all prove the distinctness of this genus.

Type: Aptornis otidiformis.

APTORNIS OTIDIFORMIS (OWEN).

Dinornis otidiformis Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. III, p. 247, pls. XXV and XXVI, fig. 5 (1844).

Aptornis otidiformis Owen, ibidem p. 347 (1848).

This is the North Island form, and I must refer my readers to Owen's description, only remarking that Mr. Hamilton, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 179, says the vertebrae assigned by Owen to Cnemiornis all belong to Aptornis.

Locality of type tibia: Poverty Bay, North Island, New Zealand; collected by Rev. Wm. Williams in 1842. {148}

APTORNIS DEFOSSOR OWEN.

Aptornis defossor Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. VII, pp. 353 to 366, pls. 40-44 (1871).

The skull differs from that of A. otidiformis by the vertical surface of the descending part of the occiput being less deeply concave, the occipital foramen relatively smaller. The hind part of the base of the alisphenoid is more produced and tuberous outside the end of the hyoid process of the paroccipital in A. defossor.

The chief other differences in size, according to Owen, are as follows:--

A. defossor. A. otidiformis. Skull. Length 7.2 inches. 6.2 inches. Breadth across paroccipitals 3.3 " 2.9 " Breadth across postfrontals 3.2 " 2.10 " Breadth across temporal fossae 2.3 " 1.1 " Breadth of base of upper mandible 1.6 " 1.3 " Breadth of middle of upper mandible 1.4 " 1.1 " Breadth of fore end of upper mandible 0.7 " 0.6 " Length of premaxillary 5.0 " 4.3 "