CEYLON RAILS, WADERS, GULLS, AND TERNS. 187 
grayish-purple blotches overlaid with markings of deeper 
red-brown, mostly round the large end, but often longitu- 
dinally streaked over the rest of the surface. Average 
measurements 1°59 by 1°19. 
GALLINULA CHLOROPUS (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 175; 
Legge, p. 781). 
The Moor Hen or Water Hen. 
Description — Back and. wing coverts olive-brown ; tertiaries 
and upper tail coverts rusty-brown ; primary coverts and wing 
quills almost black ; head and neck slaty-black shading into 
slate-gray on breast and flanks ; some white streaks on the 
flanks and a white patch under the tail; middle of abdomen 
almost always partly white. 
Bill yellow at the tip, remainder red; the upper mandible 
prolonged on the forehead into a red shield rounded at the 
back ; iris red ; legs olive-green, with an orange garter just 
below the feathered portion. 
Young birds are lighter above, and the slate-gray of the 
lower parts is mixed with whitish ; bill and shield olive 
coloured ; orange garter absent. 
Length 12°5; wing 6:5; tail 2°75; tarsus 1°9; bill from 
gape 1-1. Females slightly smaller. 
Distribution —This species, which was a great rarity in 
Legge’s time forty years ago, has rapidly increased, and is 
abundant on the marshes and lagoons of the Hambantota 
District, where it breeds freely. I have also found it resident 
on some of the larger tanks in the North-Central Province. 
It occurs as a resident or partial migrant throughout India 
and. Burma, and ranges over the greater part of the Old World, 
being the species so common in the British Isles. 
Habits. —Found on reedy tanks and marshes, often in the 
water, being a good swimmer. In Ceylon I have always 
found the nest to be a fairly thick platform of rushes, &c., 
about 6 to 8 inches across, wedged in among the stems of 
rushes growing in shallow water. The breeding season is 
about March, and again in July. Eggs vary from five to nine 
3 6(9)16 
