2'2(i KALI,1I)/E. 



Although I knew that Mr. Chas. I'lencii, lunr., had on various occasions taken theeggs of 

 this species near Prince's Bridge, Melbourne, 1 was surprised to find, during several visits to the 

 Botanic Gardens in November, igii, it common on the ornamental lake and contiguous 

 well-grassed lawns, broken here and there with plant beds. These birds were remarkably tame, 

 allowing one to get within six or eight yards of them, and even closer when in the water. I 

 hrst noted these buds stalking about the higher part of the gardens, and fully two hundred yards 

 from the margin of the lake. On the 21st November 1 noted a pair of them, accompanied 

 by three young in down, in a small reed-lined and partially over-grown pool, formed by a narrow 

 path crossing the north-western corner of the lake. They were busily engaged in diving for 

 food, half the body being submerged, the hinder portion being (]uite erect, and the white sides of 

 the under tail-coverts made them remarkably coaspicuous. Presently one of them would assume 

 an horizontal position on the surface of the water, bearing in its bill the tender portion of a green 

 a(iuatic plant, swimming with it to one of its young, which was by the latter quickly devoured. I 

 watched this small family party for about half an hour, the little ones frequently swimming 

 forwards to meet their parents when possessed of food. It was remarkable that the bills of the 

 young birds in the down were almost as bright a red as those of the adult, although the pale 

 yellowish tip was not discernible from where I stood, while the bills of some immature birds seen 

 later on near the low bridge, where the eels come to be fed, were distinctly darker and overspread 

 with a dusky hue. Questioning a gardener, who had just rowed in from one of the ornamental 

 islands of the lake, he informed me that the Moor-Hens had been there all the time he was employed 

 in the gardens, over four years, and that they were not looked on with favour by the authorities, 

 owmg to their habits of pulling up the water plants, both as food and to construct their nests. 

 In fact to such an extent did they do damage to the water lilies, that they were about to wire in 

 an enclosure under the bridge for the reception of various species of Nympluia, and to protect 

 them against the depredations of these birds. What struck me most was that the species was 

 unknown in this locality during my early collecting days, while the then common species, Porphyrio 

 meliinonotus and I'lilun tiinti'iilis, especially the latter, was now entirely absent, neither had the 

 gardener ever observed either since he had been in the gardens. The former species could 

 often be seen scuttling across some path in the vicinity of the lake, one's attention being tnore 

 often attracted to it by the peculiar flicking upward motion of the tail, and Ftdica australis was 

 unusually numerous on the waters of the lake, and among the reeds of which its nests were 

 common. 



Albin, in his " Natural History of Birds," first referred to GalUiuda chlompits, the type of 

 the genus, as " The Water-hen or the Moor-hen " in 1738, and different authors use one or other 

 of these vernacular names, but principally the latter. Gould's figures of Gallinula tenchrosa, in 

 his folio edition of the " Birds of Australia," are much too dark, and show no trace of the dusky 

 olive-brown hue of the back, rump, upper wing and upper tail-coverts. It is a mistake, also, 

 made by various writers, to call this species the " Black " Moor-hen, when the only thing visible 

 about it that is black is barely one inch of the exposed ends of the tail-feathers. 



Mr. George Savidge sent me the following notes from Copmanhurst, in the Upper Clarence 

 District, New South Wales : — " Gallinula tenchrosa is very plentiful in the Clarence River District, 

 about the Ulmarra Swamps, and is also common along the sides of the river wherever reeds and 

 rushes grow to give it protection ; when danger threatens it immediately hurries away, and hides 

 in seclusion. It may be seen in the hot summer days in the bushy trees that overhang the 

 river, sitting very quiet in a shady nook. It is a quick runner, and can thread its way 

 through the undergrowth and limbs of trees with facility. The nest is placed in the rushes or 

 rank growth. Some I found on the Upper Clarence were in very exposed situations, the Crows 

 and Hawks making havoc with them. The eggs are of a paler stone colour than the " Red Bill." 

 During the breeding season the frontal plate of this species is of a brilliant scarlet colour." 



