548 GALLINULA CHLOROPUS. 



the idea of a young bird of the domestic fowl, its form and 

 attitudes being extremely similar. The body, although much 

 compressed, is rather full anteriorly ; but the proportions, as 

 well as the plumage, being such as have been described in 

 the generic character, it is unnecessary here to enter into 

 details respecting them, farther than to state a few parti- 

 culars which have been purposely omitted. The bill is about 

 the same length as the head; the frontal plate oblong, 

 rounded above, extending nearly as far as over the anterior 

 edge of the eye. Tarsus with fifteen anterior scutella ; first 

 toe with eleven, second with twenty-four, third toe with 

 thirty-eight, fourth with thirty-four. The claws are long, 

 slightly arched tapering, much compressed, and, until worn, 

 acute. The plumage is very soft and blended, on the lower 

 part dull, on the back glossy. The wings short, of twenty- 

 two quills ; the third quill longest, the second scarcely 

 shorter, the fourth nearly as long as the third, the first as 

 long as the sixth, and nine-twelfths shorter than the second. 

 The tail is very short, much rounded, of twelve arched, 

 rounded feathers. 



In the end of autumn, when the moult has been com- 

 pleted, the bill is greenish-yellow beyond the nostrils, the 

 basal part and frontal plate crimson red, the latter somewhat 

 paler. The iris, which is very narrow, seems red at a dis- 

 tance, but is composed of three rings, the outer hazel, the 

 middle dusky, the inner bright red. The feet are dull green, 

 with a ring of bright red above the tibio-tarsal joint ; the 

 claws dusky, the head, the neck, and the lower parts in general, 

 are of a deep, dark, greyish blue, the abdomen tinged with 

 pale grey, and the uppermost hypochondrial feathers, which 

 are very long, have a longitudinal band of white on the outer 

 web. The back and smaller wing-coverts are of a deep olive 

 brown. The quills, alula, and primary coverts are dark 

 brown, the secondary coverts the same, tinged with olive 

 brown, the first quill and first alular feather with the outer 

 edge white, of which colour also is the edge of the wing. The 

 tail is blackish-brown ; the proximal under tail-coverts white, 

 and a tuft of feathers under the middle of the latter deep black. 



The oesophagus is seven inches long, its average diameter 



