Mr. Fox on some rare English Birds. 493 



head, uttering a cry with which he was unacquainted, and it 

 settled near him. 



Its colour is nearly all light buff or nankin, except the pri- 

 maries, which are dark brown. There are a few dark spots on 

 the lateral feathers of the tail near the end, but not black with 

 the white spot as described by Temminck. The back and tail 

 coverts have also zigzag darker lines. A white stripe, enclosed in 

 a black span, extends on each side from above the eyes to the 

 nape. Its length is ten inches, and its bill which is dark coloured 

 is a good deal curved in both mandibles, the lower of which is 

 about half an inch shorter than the upper. The thighs are fleshy 

 but rather bare of feathers, and its legs are long and scaly. Its 

 toes, which are only three, a circumstance that occasioned r^atham 

 to arrange it with the Plovers, are slightly edged inwardly with a 

 membrane which connects the outer to the middle, and forms 

 the rudiment of a web. The middle toe is nearly twice the length 

 of the others. 



This rare subject is at present the property of Mr. Gisborne's 

 father, the Rev. T. Gisborne, F.L.S., of Yoxall Lodge, Stafford- 

 shire, to whose ornithological taste his son knew the possession of 

 it would be a subject of congratulation. He has liberally fur- 

 nished the use of it to Mr. Selby and Mr. Bewick, for the purpose 

 of engraving figures of it for their works on British Ornithology. 



I scarcely need to remind your readers that only three specimens 

 of this Abyssinian Bird are on riecord as having been taken in 

 Europe, viz, one in France, which furnished Buffon's description 

 and the figure in the " Planches Enluminees ;" one in Aiistria (see 

 Stephens's Gen. Zoology); and a third in England, which be- 

 longed to Dr. Latham, and which was afterwards purchased for 

 eighty-three guineas. M. Temminck however hints at a fourth, a 

 young bird, in the Darmstadt Museum. , 



The Olivaceous Gallinule. (Mont.) 



Gallinula Baillonii. (Vieill.) Temm. 

 The Rev. Mr. Gisborne has also in his possession a Bird which 

 answers more nearly than any other the descriptions of the above 



