BROLGA. 189 
covered with a membrane ; an obsolete groove can be traced in the lower mandible. 
The culmen is longer than the head, little shorter than the tail, and more than half 
the length of the metatarsus. The head is denuded of feathers save on the ear- 
coverts. The wing is long, with the inner secondaries longer and resolving them- 
selves into drooping plumes. The tail, composed of twelve feathers, is more than 
one-third the length of the wing. The legs are very long, as also the exposed tibia, 
while the very long metatarsus is scutellate, and is equal to half the length of the 
wing. The toes are long with no webbing between ; hind-toe present and raised 
above the level of the others ; the middle toe is about half the length of the culmen. 
130. Mathewsena rubicunda.—BROLGA. 
Gould, Vol. VI., pl. 48 (pt. xxx.), March Ist, 1848. Mathews, Vol. IIL, pt. 4, pl. 176, Dee. 
3lst, 1913. 
Ardea rubicunda Perry, Arcana, pt. vi. [pl. 22], June 1810: Botany Bay, New South Wales. 
Grus antarctica Illiger, Abhandl. Ak. Wissen Munch., 1811-12, p. 230, 1816: New South 
Wales. 
Grus australasianus Gould, Birds Austr., pt. xxx. (Vol. VI., pl. 48), March Ist, 1848: New 
South Wales. 
Mathewsia rubicunda argentea Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 227, Jan. 31st, 1912: 
Derby, North-west Australia. 
DisTRIBUTION.—Australia generally. Not Tasmania. 
Adult male-—General colour above and below silvery-grey, with pale edgings to 
the feathers of the upper-parts; bastard-wing, primary-coverts and quills dark 
brown ; lower throat covered with hair-like feathers ; bill and crown of head olive- 
green ; papille on the sides of the face and the back of the neck red ; iris yellow ; 
tarsi and feet brown. Total length 1,220 mm.; culmen 163, wing 580, tail 210, 
tarsus 290. 
Adult female—Similar to the adult male ; culmen 150, wing 555. 
Young.—Still retaining a portion of the downy plumage. Differs from the 
adult by having the head covered with pale rufous feathers, becoming paler and 
inclining to buff on the upper hind-neck, the grey ear-coverts only slightly indicated. 
Immature.—Differs from the adult in being darker and the feathers of the mantle 
edged with brown. 
Nest.—None made. 
Eggs.—Clutch, two; surface minutely pitted; ground-colour creamy-white, 
sparingly covered with spots of brown and lavender; axis 84-91 mm., diameter 
60 to 62. 
Breeding-season.—September to March. 
Distribution and forms.—Australia only, a straggler once recorded from Central 
Asia! Two well-marked subspecies are recognised: IM. r. rubicunda (Perry) from 
the East, and M. r. argentea (Mathews) from the North-west, a smaller and much 
paler silvery-grey race. 
OrpEeR RALLI. 
This order, as recognised by us, comprises three suborders, Rails proper, Finfeet 
and Grebes. All are small to medium wading or swimming birds, though some are 
mainly land birds, all three forms being seen among the Rails. The bill is of varied 
shapes, the body generally slender, rarely stout, the wings short and the legs stout, 
sometimes peculiarly developed for swimming purposes. They all seem to have 
a strong tendency to flightlessness, which is seen in many cases acting now through 
isolation. A few semi-flightless forms still exist, some flightless ones are only 
recently extinct, &nd quite a few fossil flightless forms are known. Rails and Grebes 
are of world-wide distribution, while the Finfeet occur only in tropical America and 
Africa. 
