WATER-RAIL. 85 
dusky, the edges of the feathers olive brown, leaving only a | 
little of the centre black: in flirting up the tail, this species 
also displays the white underneath. Under tail coverts, dull 
cream-coloured white, the bases of the feathers black, the tips 
reddish brown. Legs and toes, which latter are long, pale 
reddish brown or greenish, the joints of a bluish tint. 
The female resembles the male, but the bill is shorter and 
aler. . 
: The young have the throat and breast barred with pale 
brown on the margins of the feathers; the breast also without 
the white bars on the sides, and paler likewise in colour 
than in the adult. 
Montagu says, ‘In some there are a few feathers at the 
elbow of the wing, on the coverts, that are barred black 
and white, and the tail feathers margined with brown; the 
middle ones wholly olivaceous brown. Others have the feathers 
on the fore part of the neck margined with white; but the 
last variety, as mentioned by cther authors, we believe is 
more rare.’ White varieties have occasionally occurred. 
