16 RALLID.E. 



Ornltlioloo'ieal Dictionary, under the name of Little Gallinulc, 

 appears to be a female, but the sex was not noted. The 

 next specimen, recorded by Montagu, is Mr. Foljambc's 

 bird, obtained in the shop of a London poulterer, in May 

 1812; this is also figured and described in the Appendix 

 to his Supplement, and is considered to be an old male. 

 This example was received from Norfolk. About the same 

 time Mr. Plasted, of Chelsea, obtained another which was 

 shot on the banks of the Thames, near that place. At the 

 sale of Mr. Plasted's birds, this specimen passed into the 

 possession of Mr. Leadbeater, and is now, I believe, in the 

 collection of Mr. Lombe, who resides near Norwich. This 

 bird, which I saw several times while it belonged to ]\Ir. 

 Leadbeater, agreed with the figure and description of ]\Ion- 

 tagu's Olivaceous Gallinvdc, and was believed to be an old 

 male. 



An extract from the Minute-book of the Linnean Society, 

 dated November 4th, 1823, is thus inserted in the fourteenth 

 volume of the Transactions of that Society, page 583. " In 

 a letter from W. Fothergill, Esq. of Carr-end, near Arkrigg, 

 in Yorkshire, it is stated that the Rallus piisillus of Gmelin, 

 GaUinula minula of Montagu, and G. pusilla of Temminck, 

 was shot on the 6th of May 1807, by John Humphrey, Esq. 

 of Wensley, on the banks of the Yore, near that place. It 

 was alone, and suffered itself to be approached very near, 

 without betraying any sense of danger. It ran with great 

 rapidity, carrying its tail erect." 



In March 1826, a female of this species was caught at 

 Barnwell near Cambridge, which is now in the collection of 

 Dr. Thackeray, the Provost of King's College ; and the 

 figure of the bird in .the front of the illustration here given, 

 as also the description, were taken from this bird, which was 

 most kindly lent me for my use in this work. 



In the volume of the Magazine of Natural History for the 



