338 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Genus EULABEORNIS, Gould. 



A genus established for the reception of a singular species 

 of Rail inhabiting the north coast of Australia. 



Sp. 572. EULABEORNIS CASTANEIVENTRIS, Gould. 

 Chestnut-bellied Rail. 



Eulabeornis castaneoventris, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xii. 



p. 56. 

 castaneiventris, Bonap, Compt. Rend, de I'Acad. Sci., torn, xliii. 



seances du 15 et 22 Sept. 1856. 

 Mor-dug-e-ra, Aborigines of Port Essington. 



Eulabeornis castneoventris, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. vi. 

 pi. 78. 



This large and fine species of Rail inhabits the low 

 muddy shores and mangrove swamps of the north coast of 

 Australia. The specimen above alluded to, which is in my 

 own collection, was killed in the Gulf of Carpentaria by Rear- 

 Admiral Stokes, R.N. , late Commander of H. M.S. the Beagle; 

 to this gentleman I am also indebted for many acts of kind- 

 ness and liberality, while science in more than one branch has 

 been enriched by the discoveries made by himself and his 

 officers during their late survey. I had some time before 

 received the eggs of this species from Port Essington, but from 

 its extreme shyness the bird could never be obtained ; in fact, 

 the wariness of its disposition is such, that even to catch a 

 glimpse of it among the dense herbage and mangroves is an 

 extremely rare occurrence. It runs with extraordinary fleet- 

 ness, and takes alarm the instant the vicinity of its habitat is 

 intruded upon. 



The eggs are rather lengthened in form, of a pale pinky 

 white, dotted all over with reddish chestnut, the spots being 

 thinly dispersed, and some of them appearing as if beneath 

 the surface of the shell, giving them a darker tint, two inches 

 and one-eighth long, one inch and five-eighths broad. 



