(8 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



Adult male. — General color dark slaty gray; head, neck, chin, and 

 throat black shaded into slate-gray posteriorly; back, rump, upper tail- 

 coverts, and inner wing-feathers dark olive-brown; feathers on middle of 

 abdomen more or less fringed with white ; several long flank feathers with 

 long white stripes on outer webs; crissum black; under tail-coverts pure 

 white; wings blackish; edge of wing and of first primary white; under 

 wing-coverts and axillars blackish with white tips ; tail blackish. "Frontal 

 shield and two-thirds of the bill deep lake-red, and tip of the latter 

 greenish yellow for about one-third; legs olive-gi'een, the broad scaling 

 on the fore part of the tarsus, and the scales of the upper part of the 

 toes, lemon-yellow; joint of heel dusky olive-green, with a shade of lemon- 

 yellow immediately below the garter, which is dark lake-red ; iris reddish." 

 (Sharpe.) Two males from Bohol measure: Wing, 157, 162; tail, 70, 

 73 ; bill from posterior margin of frontal shield, 43, 45 ; bill from nostril, 

 15, 16 ; tarsus, 52 ; middle toe with claw, 76, 77. 



Adult female. — Similar to the male but smaller. A female from Ba- 

 silan measures : 293 in length; wing, 138 ; tail, 63 ; culmen from posterior 

 margin of frontal shield, 37; bill from nostril, 14; bill from gape, 27; 

 tarsus, 49 ; middle toe with claw, 74. 



Young. — Above richer brown, top of head washed with brown; below 

 ligliter than adult; chin, upper throat, and sides of face white mixed 

 more or less with brown and dark gray; feathers on rest of under parts 

 more or less fringed with lirown and white; middle of abdomen pure 

 white. 



"The eggs of the moorhen are normally of a broad oval form and have 

 a small amount of gloss. The ground-color varies much, being creamy 

 white, pale greenish white, pale buff or pinkish buff. The markings con- 

 sist of specks, spots, and bold blotches of deep reddish brown, and a few 

 underlying pale purple spots. The combinations in which these markings 

 occur are numerous. In some, the markings are all small and densely 

 set over the shell ; in others, spots are combined with huge blotches which 

 are often confluent. As a rule the larger end of the egg is more thickly 

 marked than the other parts. A few specimens are devoid of all markings 

 except some pale purple blotches. Examples vary' from 39.3 to 55 in 

 length and from 27.9 to 36 in breadth." {Oates.) 



Four eggs collected by WTiitehead in Samar, August 25, 1896, are thus 

 described: "The eggs are perfectly similar to those laid by European 

 moorhens, but the number of eggs in the clutch, as well as their relatively 

 smaller size, is noteworthy. Measurements 42 by 39." (Grant and 

 Whitehead.) 



Genus GALLICEEX Blyth, 1849. 



Bill stout and of moderate length ; frontal shield pointed behind, much 

 larger in males than in females, and in the breeding season terminating 

 in a free horn-like process ; legs and toes very long and heavy. 



