Extinct Birds Part 28

Leiden Museum: [male] [female], from the Prince of Wied.

American Museum, New York: 7, three of which formerly belonged to George N. Lawrence.

Long Island Historical Society, Brooklyn: 1 [male] ad.

Va.s.sar College, Poughkeepsie, N. York: 1 [male] ad.

New York State Museum, Albany: [male] [female] ad.

Cory collection: [male] [female] ad.

University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont: 1 [male] ad.

Philadelphia: 2 [male] jun., 1 [female]

U.S. National Museum, Was.h.i.+ngton: 2 [male], 1 [female], 1 [male] jun.

Collection of Mr. William Brewster: 1 [male] jun., 1 [female]

Boston Society of Natural History: 1 [male] jun.

Collection of Dalhousie College, Halifax: [male] [female]

This makes a total of 48 known specimens. {107}

The last specimens killed were those shot in May, 1871, at Grand Manan Island, the date of which is absolutely certain, and the specimen bought from a Mr. J. G. Bell in 1879, for the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, which is said to have been shot in 1875, but this date seems not quite certain (Cf.

Auk, 1894, p. 9). That several other specimens were shot later than 1852 is perfectly certain. As the specimen of 1875, or thereabouts, is a young male, Mr. Lawrence's question about the old birds is certainly justified.

As, however, no Labrador Duck has been recorded later than 1871 or 1875 we may suppose that it is now extinct.

My young male was bought in the Fulton Market, New York, about 1860, and probably came from Long Island. It was mounted by John Bell, a bird-stuffer, through whose hands several Labrador Ducks have gone, and is in the finest possible condition. I bought this bird from the late Gordon Plummer, shortly before his death. He died at his home in Brookline, Ma.s.s., in November, 1893. (Cf. Auk, 1891, p. 206.)

My adult male is the one of which the history is given in Auk, 1894, p.

176. It is described there in detail and then added: "Shot in the bay of Laprairie this spring (1862) by a habitant, and purchased by Mr. Thompson of this city, who has kindly placed it at my disposal for examination." Mr.

William Dutcher of New York City bought this specimen from the widow of the Mr. Thompson, mentioned in the above note as the original owner, and I purchased it from Mr. William Dutcher, who informs me that "the Bay of Laprairie" is simply a name given to a wide part of the River St. Lawrence, just south of Montreal, Quebec. The name is found on good maps of Quebec.

{109}

"BIZIURA LAUTOURI" FORBES.

_Biziura lautouri_ Forbes, Trans. N.Z. Inst. XXIV, p. 188 (1892--nomen nudum).

Dr. Forbes, unfortunately, gives no description whatever of this bird. It would be interesting to know something about it, and especially if its powers of flight were impaired, as it seems to have been the case in so many extinct birds.

{111}

ARDEA MEGACEPHALA MILNE-EDWARDS.

_Butors Leguat_, Relation du Voyage (1708).

_Ardea megacephala_ Milne-Edwards, Ann. Sci. Nat. (5) XIX, 1874, p. 10.

Leguat's description, here translated, is as follows:--"We had Bitterns as big and as fat as capons. They are tamer and more easily caught than the 'gelinotes.'" He also says, "The lizards often serve as prey for the birds, especially for the Bitterns. When we shook them down from the branches with a pole, these birds ran up and gobbled them down in front of us, in spite of all we could do to prevent them; and even if we only pretended to do so they came in the same manner and always followed us about."

Milne-Edwards remarks, among other notes, that "This bird is not a true Bittern, but its head is so large and its feet so short that it is easy to understand that Leguat should have called it so."

The bony structure of the head is remarkable on account of its ma.s.sive and thick proportions; the skull itself is strongly enlarged posteriorly, and the temporal fossae are bordered by very p.r.o.nounced ridges, especially those on the occipital region. The upper side of the skull is hardly convex, and the interorbital region is large, but only slightly depressed along its middle line. The bill is stout, almost straight, a good deal enlarged at its base and rounded beneath. The nostrils are large and preceded by a large groove, which extends very far towards the tip.

It is impossible to confound this skull with that of any Bittern, the latter having the beak relatively slender and only barely exceeding the skull in length. These also have the skull much constricted at the temporal region. The fossil skull from Rodriguez therefore presents characters essentially those of a Heron, but differs from all known species in its ma.s.sive appearance. In the Grey, Purple and Goliath Herons, as well as in the Egrettes, the head is narrower, more elongated, the bill less conical and less strong. In _Ardea atricollis_, now inhabiting Madagascar, the beak much resembles that of our extinct species, but it is longer and less enlarged at the base. The interorbital area is much wider, while on the other hand the hinder portion of the skull is narrower and more elongated, which gives to the skull a totally different aspect.

The feet relatively to the head are extremely short, and from this I conclude that we know no species of Heron which can be compared to that of Rodriguez. Nevertheless, the tarso-metatarsus presents all the characters {112} of _Ardea_, and is far removed from that of _Botaurus_. The tibia is big and short; it surpa.s.ses in length the tarso-metatarsus by about a third, as is usual in the Herons; but the femur on the contrary is strongly developed, being quite as large as in the _Ardea cinerea_; which shows us that the body of this creature was of large size, and that the reduction in size of the feet had only taken place at their extremities.

The sternum is puny and small as compared with the creature's size. It is clearly that of a bird not furnished with powerful wings, and is even much less elongated than in the Bittern, but the coracoidal bones are very long and slender. The wings also were short and feeble, the humerus being hardly as big as in _Butorides atricapilla_. It is conspicuously slenderer and shorter than in the Bittern. The main body of the bone is slightly curved on the outside, and the lower articular condyle is large and flattened. I have not been able to examine any bone of the "ma.n.u.s," but the metacarpal bone shows exactly the same proportions for the wing as does the humerus, as it also barely reaches the size of that of _Butorides atricapilla_. The measurements are as follows:--

_Skull._

Total length 154 mm.

Length of upper mandible 94 "

Width of upper mandible at base 22 "

Width of interorbital region 22 "

s.p.a.ce between the mastoid apophyses 40 "

Width of skull at level of pos...o...b..tal apophyses 40 "

Length of lower mandible 147 "

_Tarso-metatarsus._

Total length 95-162 mm.

Width at proximal extremity 14 "

Width at distal extremity 13.5-14 "

Width of shaft 6.2-7 "

_Tibio-tarsus._

Total length 140-210 mm.

Width at distal extremity 12-13 "

Width at proximal extremity 13-14 "

Width of shaft 6-6.5 "

{113} _Femur._

Total length 90-92 mm.

Width of distal extremity 15-16 "

Width of proximal extremity 14-16 "

Width of shaft 6.2-7 "

_Sternum._