GALLINULA. GALLINULE. 



545 



linear-oblong, perforated, medial, submarginal. Aperture of 

 ear roundish, rather small. Feet large ; tibia muscular, its 

 lower part bare ; tarsus of moderate length, large, compressed, 

 anteriorly covered with broad curved scutella, posteriorly 

 with two rows of scutella; toes very long, slender, com- 

 pressed, anteriorly covered with numerous scutella, beneath 

 flattened and distinctly marginate ; the first very small, the 

 third longest, the fourth a little longer than the second ; claws 

 long, slender, slightly arched, compressed, acute. 



Plumage blended, soft, glossy above ; on the head very 

 short, gradually elongated backwards, on the sides long, on 

 the tibiae short ; the feathers narrow, oblong, with a longish, 

 narrow plumule. Wings short, concave, rounded; quills 

 twenty-two ; primaries rather weak, very broad, rounded, the 

 first considerably shorter than the second, which is the 

 longest, being slightly longer than the third ; the fifth about 



Fig. 50. 



the length of the first. Tail very short, arched, much rounded, 

 of twelve weak, narrow, rounded feathers. 



The Gallinules, so named from their resemblance to the 

 domestic hen, differ from the Crakes chiefly in having the 

 base of the ridge of their upper mandible expanded into an 

 oblong plate, which covers a greater or less extent of the 

 forehead ; and in the flattened soles of their toes, which are 

 expanded into two narrow margins. They differ from the 

 genus Porphyrio in a very slight degree, it having the bill 

 much higher, the nostrils roundish, and the toes not laterally 

 margined, but with a single projecting margin. But these 

 differences are very slight, and the so-called genera Por- 



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