228 i!AT,LII),t: 



(1)2-12 X 1-4 inches. A set of live, taken at Gordunbiook, on the Upper Clarence River, 

 measures:— Length (A) 2-05 x 1-42 inches; (H) 1-94 x 1-35 inches; (C) 2-i x 1-45 inches ; 

 (D) 1-95 X 1-35 inches; (E) 1-92 x 1-4 inches. 



On the North-coastal Rivers of New South Wales, September and the four following 

 months constitute the usual breeding season, Mr. George Savidge taking fresh eggs in the 

 Clarence River District ftom September to December. In N'ictoria Mr. Chas. French, Junr., 

 informs me that he has taken fresh eggs in November and as late as the 30th January, so the 

 breeding season in the latter State would extend tu tlie latter end of February, and probably 

 well into March. 



Porphyrio melanonotus. 



BLACK-HACKED GALLINULK. 

 Porjihyrio vielauotus, Temm , Man. d'( »rn., Tom. TI., p. 701 (18'20) : (iould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. 

 Vh, pi. GO (1848) ; id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. 11., p. ■.'>2\ (l,s6.3). 



Porphyrio melaiionoliis, i^hnrpc, Ca,t. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXII [., p. -JO") (1894); id, Hand-I. 

 Bds., Vol. F, p. 1 08 (l.srtll). 



Adult male. — Gmeral colour abore black, sliij/illy y/dx.svf/ irifli ohve-brotvn, irhich. is more 

 (Hstiuct oil the tipper /ail-cofcr/s : scapiilnrs, iiiedian and ijreater ii.pprr iriiiy-corerts like the back ; 

 lesser upper i/'iiig-coverls purplish-blue ; i/uil!s and pruiiary coverts black, inaryined externally witli 

 piirpis/i-black : tail black : fore part of head, sides of face aud croint of head, nape and upper portion 

 of hiud-iierk, dasky black : remainder of neck and all the intder surface purplish-blue ; centre of 

 abdomen and tips of long loiver jlank-featliers dusky black; under tail-coverts u'hite ; bill and frontal 

 plate dark iva:c-red ; legs and feet sahiion-red, back of tarsi, the undir surface of the feet, and the 

 toe-joints blackish : iris dark a-ax-red. Total length in the Ibsli IS-fi iiichrs, iring It), tail ,J, bill, 

 antJi frontal plate, :,'•/, tarsas -I'S'. 



Adult FKMALK. — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribution. — Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, X'ictoria, South Australia, 

 Tasmania. 



KO species of the Family Ram in v; is better known in Eastern Australia than Porphyrio 

 mchmonoUis, and many have been the vernacular and local names applied to the different 

 species comprising this genus. The name of Furple-bird was given to Porphyrio drndus by 

 Albin, in his " Natural History of Birds," in 1747, and Purple Gallinule, by Latham, in his 

 " General Synopsis of Birds," in 1785. Mr. 11. E. Dresser also uses this latter name in "A 

 History of the Birds of Europe," in 1876. In 1802 Latham, in his Supplement to the " General 

 Synopsis," described the Grey-headed Gallinule, upon which is founded his name of Gallinula 

 polioc-iphala.' In Hume's " Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds," the latter species, the Porphyria 

 polioaplialus of X'ieillot, and of the " Catalogue of Birds in the Britisli Museum," is called the 

 Purple Coot. Returning to Purphvrio mclitnonotus, Latham applied the name of Black-backed 

 Gallinule to it in his " General History of Birds," in 1824, and Gould, in his" Birds of Australia," 

 simply uses the name Black-backed Porphyrio, as he does also in the " Handbook " to the same 

 work. All over New South Wales the species is known as the "Red-bill," by bird-nesting boys; 

 around Melbourne, where this species was once common, as the " Water Hen," and by the residents 

 of Tasmania as the " Bald Coot," not a distinguishing name by any means, seeing that the true 

 Coot (I-'idica anstralis) is bald also, both birds having the frontal plate on the forehead. More- 

 over the lateral lobes to the toes, one of the chief characters in the genus PuUca, is absent in 



* Lath., Ind. Orn., Suppl. p. Ixviii. (1S02) 



