336 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



red at the base, passing into brown at the tip ; irides reddish 

 hazel ; feet brown. 



In some specimens the white spottings of the upper surface 

 are much brighter than in others. 



^O' 



Genus RALLUS, Linnceus. 



The genus Itallus, the type of which is the H. aquaticus, is 

 represented in AustraUa by a single, or perhaps two species ; 

 other examples of this truly fluviatile form are found both in 

 the Old and New Worlds. 



Sp. 571. RALLUS BRACHIPUS, Siuains. 



Lewin's Water-Rail. 



Rallus brachipus, Swains. An. in Menag , p. 336. 



lewinii, Swains. Ibid., p. 336. 



brachipus, G. R. Gray, List of Birds in Brit. Mas. Coll., part iii. 



p. 115. 

 Lewinia brachjpus, Bonap. Compt. Bend, de I'Acad. Sci., torn. xhii. 



seances des 15 ct 22 Sept. 1856. 



Rallus lewinii, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. vi. pi. 77. 



In Tasmania this species is very abundant in all low 

 marshy situations, lagoons, and the rushy banks of rivers ; it 

 occurs on most of the small islands in D'Entrecasteaux 

 Channel ; I have also seen specimens from Southern and 

 Western Australia which are precisely similar in their markings, 

 and only differ in being somewhat larger. 



Swainson has, I think, described this bird under two names, 

 those of brachipus and lewinii. The shortness of the nails 

 and consequent apparent shortness of the toes, which must 

 have suggested the former appellation, appears to pertain only 

 to those birds which inhabit the small islands, where, from 

 the hard and stony nature of the ground they have to 

 traverse, the nails become much worn and blunted, while 



