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NUMBER 89
donicus. In the case of N. megacephalus and N. mauritianus,
however, the robustness of the tarsometatarsus is probably accentuated
by the reduced flying ability (Table 3).
The Reunion night heron had green feet and had gray plumage
flecked with white, a description that fits very well with the
juvenile plumage of Nycticorax nycticorax.
REMARKS.—Cowles (1994) thought that the species name
Ardea duboisi, created by Rothschild (1907), was a nomen nudum,
but actually this name, published with a description, is
valid. It has been used several times (Hachisuka, 1953; Greenway,
1967) and therefore must be retained, in conformity with
the law of priority. Many other accepted scientific names of
Mascarene birds are based on similar descriptions.
The description given by Dubois is as follows: "Bitterns or
Great throats, large as big capons [domestic fowl, Gallus gallus
(Linnaeus)], but fat and good [to eat]. They have grey plumage,
Cor.
Hum.
Uln.
Cpm.
Fern.
Tbt.
Tmt.
-80
I
60
I
40 -20 20 40
I
each feather tipped with white, the neck and beak like a heron
and the feet green, made like the feet of the 'Poullets dTnde'
[domestic turkey, Meleagris gallopavo (Linnaeus)]. That lives
on fish" (Barre and Barau, 1982:30, our translation). Dubois'
words "Butors ou Grands Gauziers" were left in French by 01-
TABLE 3.—Robustness index of the tarsometatarsus in different modem and
extinct species of the genus Nycticorax. (Robustness index = midshaft width x
100/ total length; «=number of specimens.)
Species
Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax
Nycticorax caledonicus
Nycticorax melanolophus
Nycticorax (Gorsachius) leuconotus
Nycticorax megacephalus
Nycticorax mauritianus
Nycticorax duboisi
60
I
Mean
6.25
5.87
5.44
5.02
6.57
7.23
-6.77
Range
5.60-6.59
5.49-6.20
-
-
6.32-6.99
7.17-7.29
6.73--6.80
n
11
4
1
1
3
2
2
0 Nycticorax caledonicus, standard
^ N. nycticorax C^mean
cf N. nycticorax cf, mean
• Nycticorax mauritianus
# Nycticorax megacephalus
O Nycticorax duboisi
FIGURE 2.—Ratio-diagram of the dimensions of the main long bones of the three species of Nycticorax of the
Mascarenes. The standard is a male N. caledonicus from New Caledonia (USNM 561542). For iV. nycticorax the
dimensions are the means of three females (USNM 292037, 319467, 430526) and nine males (USNM 289884,
292036, 430527, 432698, 488680, 489903, 499390, 501991, 610609). For N. megacephalus the data are from
Milne-Edwards (1874), and for N. mauritianus the data are the means of the dimensions given by Newton and
Gadow (1893) plus those of the fossil material in the MNHN collection. Coracoid measurement is of internal
length; for other bones, measurement is of total length. When measurements are not known, successive points are
united by dashed lines. (Cor.=coracoid, Cpm.=carpometacarpus, Fem.=femur, Hum.=humerus, Tbt.=tibiotarsus,
Tmt.=tarsometatarsus, Uln.=ulna.)