On a new species of Gallinule

Some days ago our Museum received a probably fully adult female of Porphyrio, kindly sent by Mr. A. A. van Bemmelen, the able Director of the Zoological Garden at Rotterdam, with the assurance, that the bird had been caught at and sent from the Lake Toba in the Interior of Sumatra. Peculiarly enough there is hitherto no evidence published as to the occurrence of a Porphyrio in Sumatra, except by Cassin in U. S. Exploring Expedition, Ornith. p. 308, where, treating of P. indicus, the author says that the Museum of the Philadelphia Academy contains specimens from Java, Sumatra and other islands of the Malay Archipelago. As Porphyrio indicus Horsf. ( (P. calvus Vieill.) has also been found in Borneo, I was much astonished to see that our Sumatran bird differs not only from this, but also from both the known species from the Continent, though those latter may be considered to be its nearest allies.