FAMILY RALLIDAE 357 



little gloss ; the ground-colour in all is cream, but in two the spotting 

 is of dark brown with underlying pale grey markings, thickest at 

 the big end, while the third has smears of two shades of brown, 

 disposed irregularly over the surface," Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., 

 pt. 6, 1962, p. 346) gives the measurement of 5 (including those from 

 Trinidad described above) as 29.8-32.5 X 22.5-24.0 mm. 



GALLINULA CHLOROPUS (Linnaeus): Common Gallinule ; 

 Gallineta de Agua 



FiGtJKE 59 



Fulica Chloropus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 152. (England.) 



Frontal shield, and bill (except for the yellow tip) red; toes with- 

 out lobes. 



Description. — Length 290-310 mm. Adult (sexes alike), head and 

 upper neck slate-black; lower neck, breast, and sides slate-gray, the 

 sides with prominent white streaks ; upper abdomen and outer under 

 tail coverts white; lower abdomen, central upper and under tail 

 coverts, and tail black; back, rimip, lateral upper tail coverts, and 

 ends of tertials and secondaries dull olive-brown ; primaries and sec- 

 ondaries fuscous; outer edge of wing, including outer web of outer 

 primary, white. 



Immature, paler gray, with throat, sides of head, and tips of 

 breast feathers white. 



Downy young, black above, and on the head, with a faint greenish 

 sheen on lower back; somewhat grayish black underneath; throat 

 and sides of head with somewhat elongated, and slightly curled, ends, 

 tipped with silvery white ; down covering of head scanty so that skin 

 is visible, particularly on crown and throat. 



Iris dark red; tip of bill greenish yellow; remainder, and frontal 

 shield red; tarsus and toes greenish, with a band of red around the 

 crus. 



In tropical Panama the common gallinule, like its relatives else- 

 where through the Americas, lives around broad expanses of fresh 

 waters where water hyacinth and other floating plants afford feed- 

 ing grounds, with taller, denser growths of marsh vegetation ad- 

 jacent for cover when needed. Though many remain hidden in this 

 taller growth many others move about outside, often in stretches of 

 water that are completely open, where they swim with nodding heads. 

 It is common also to see them walking on muddy shores, or across 

 masses of water plants. Intruders are greeted with clucking or 

 chattering calls, and when alarmed the birds dash to shelter, or rise 



