_Rallus Sandwichensis_ Gmelin, Syst. Nat I p. 717 (1788--ex Latham! "Habitat exilis in insulis Sandwich"). _Pennula Wilsoni_ Finsch, Notes Leyden Mus. XX p. 77 (1898--Finsch explains that the specimen in the Leyden Museum is not the type of Latham--and therefore of Gmelin's name--and therefore renames it). For full synonymy and explanations of name, etc., cf. Avifauna of Laysan, p. 239, 240 and 243, also plate LXXVI. Latham's description--from which Gmelin's diagnosis was taken--distinctly says that the feathers were "darkest in the middle," and in the Index Ornith. "supra maculis obscuris." Moreover, the unpublished drawing of Ellis, well reproduced in Mr. Scott Wilson's book, shows beyond doubt the identity of the bird of the old authors with the specimen in the Leyden Museum. The Leyden specimen is all we are acquainted with, and of the history of this bird we know nothing but Latham's statement that it came from the Sandwich Islands. {139} TRIBONYX ROBERTI ANDREWS. _Tribonyx roberti Andrews_, Ibis 1897, p. 356, pl. IX, figs 4-7. This bird is described from an imperfect pelvis, a perfect left tibio-tarsus and a femur. The pelvis differs from that of _T. mortieri_ in not having the deep depression in the ilia in front of the acetabulum and above the pectineal process. It also differs in having a rather wider pelvic escutcheon and wider renal fossal, and the supra-acetabular ridges of the ilia are smaller than in the Australian bird. The beautifully-preserved left tibia differs from that of _T. mortieri_ in having the intercondylar groove wider and shallower, the inner condyle less massive, thus making the difference between the inner and outer condyle more marked; _T. roberti_ also has the shaft immediately above the extensor bridge wider, the bridge itself less oblique, and the fibular crest is longer. The measurements are:-- _Pelvis._ Length of Ilium 82 mm. approx. Least width of acetabular region of Pelvis 14 " Width at Antitrochanter 40 " Width at anterior angle of Pelvic Escutcheon 36 " Width at Posterior angle of Pelvic Escutcheon 40 " Length of Sacrum 68 " _Tibia._ Length 143 mm. Width at distal extremity 12 " Width at middle of shaft 7 " _Femur._ Length 83 mm. Width at distal extremity 17 " Width at middle of shaft 7 " Habitat: Sirabé in C. Madagascar. {141} NOTORNIS OWEN. Differs from _Porphyrio_ by the secondaries being nearly as long as the primaries, and the wing-coverts more or less elongated, sometimes nearly hiding the quills. Type: _Notornis mantelli_.