Art. VIII.—Note on the Flightless Rail of the Chatham Islands (Cabalus modestus).

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 25, 1892, Page 52

Art. VIII.—Note on the Flightless Rail of the Chatham Islands (Cabalus modestus). By Sir Walter L. Buller, K.C.M.G., F.R.S. [Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 26th October, 1892.] I have much pleasure in exhibiting this evening two specimens (presumably male and female) of the Flightless Rail (Cabalus modestus), recently obtained on Mangare Island, a rocky satellite of the Chathams. My correspondent informs me that this bird is strictly nocturnal in its habits, and that the man employed by him was out every night for two months before he succeeded in taking them. The distinguishing superficial characters of this remarkable form are apparent at a glance: the abbreviated wings, the soft fluffy plumage of sombre hue, the long, slightly-curved bill, and the well-developed legs. Professor Hutton, who first described this species, claimed for it generic rank on account of its internal structure (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. vi., pp. 108–110), and this claim is now generally recognised. The curvature of the bill is more pronounced in the larger (presumably the male) bird, being very similar to that of the Moeriki (Cabalus dieffenbachii)' as figured in our Transactions (vol. vi., p. 12), but more slender, and I feel confirmed in the opinion that the two species are referable to one and the same genus. The specimens now before the meeting have enabled me to prepare a more detailed description of the species than has hitherto appeared. Adult.—General plumage dark vinous-brown, changing to

dull-grey in the throat; foreneck, breast, and the rest of the under parts, as well as the sides of the body, marked with numerous narrow, transverse, broken bars of yellowish-brown; these markings continued, but in a fragmentary and scattered manner, on the upper surface of wings; on the bastard quills, and on the under tail-coverts they are broader, lighter, and more regular; quills blackish-brown, each vane crossed at regular intervals by triangular markings of fulvous-brown. Bill and feet uniform dark-brown. The two specimens differ appreciably in size, and I take the smaller of the two to be the female, although the wingmarkings are more conspicuous than in the larger one. In this latter the curve in the bill is very apparent. Male.—Extreme length, 9in.; wing, from flexure, 3.2in.; tail, 1.6in.; bill, along the ridge 1.5in., along the edge of lower mandible 1.7in.; tarsus, 1.2in.; middle toe and claw, 1.5in. Female.—Extreme length, 7.5in.; wing, from flexure, 3in.; tail, 1.5in.; bill, along the ridge 1.25in., along the edge of lower mandible 1.6in.; tarsus, 1in.; middle toe and claw, 1.4in. In both specimens there is a minute spur at the flexure of each wing.