78 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 
Adult male.—General color dark slaty gray; head, neck, chin, and 
throat black shaded into slate-gra@posteriorly ; back, rump, upper tail- 
coverts, and inner wing-feathers dark olive-brown; feathers on middle of 
abdomen more or less fringed with white; several long flank feathers with 
long white stripes on outer webs; crissum black; under tail-coverts pure 
white; wings blackish; edge of wing and of first primary white; under 
wing-coverts and axillars blackish with white tips; tail blackish. “Frontal 
shield and two-thirds of the bill deep lake-red, and tip of the latter 
greenish yellow for about one-third; legs olive-green, the broad scaling 
on the fore part of the tarsus, and the scales of the upper part of the 
toes, lemon-yellow ; joint of heel dusky olive-green, with a shade of lemon- 
yellow immediately below the garter, which is dark lake-red ; iris reddish.” 
(Sharpe.) Two males from Bohol measure: Wing, 157, 162; tail, 70, 
73; bill from posterior margin of frontal shield, 43, 45; bill from nostril, 
15, 16; tarsus, 52; middle toe with claw, 76, 77. 
Adult female.—Similar to the male but smaller. A female from Ba- 
silan measures: 292 in length; wing, 138; tail, 63; culmen from posterior 
margin of frontal shield, 37; bill from nostril, 14; bill from gape, 27; 
tarsus, 49; middle toe with claw, 74. 
Young.—Above richer brown, top of head washed with brown; below 
lighter than adult; chin, upper throat, and sides of face white mixed 
more or less with brown and dark gray; feathers on rest of under parts 
more or less fringed with brown and white; middle of abdomen pure 
white. 
“The eggs of the moorhen are normally of a broad oval form and have 
a small amount of gloss. The ground-color varies much, being creamy 
white, pale greenish white, pale buff or pinkish buff. The markings con- 
sist of specks, spots, and bold blotches of deep reddish brown, and a few 
underlying pale purple spots. ‘The combinations in which these markings 
occur are numerous. In some, the markings are all small and densely 
set over the shell; in others, spots are combined with huge blotches which 
are often confluent. As a rule the larger end of the egg is more thickly 
marked than the other parts. A few specimens are devoid of all markings 
except some pale purple blotches. Examples vary from 39.3 to 55 in 
length and from 27.9 to 36 in breadth.” (Oates.) 
Four eggs collected by Whitehead in Samar, August 25, 1896, are thus 
described: “The eggs are perfectly similar to those laid by European ° 
moorhens, but the number of eggs in the clutch, as well as their relatively 
smaller size, is noteworthy. Measurements 42 by 39.” (Grant and 
Whitehead.) 
Genus GALLICREX Blyth, 1849. 
Bill stout and of moderate length; frontal shield pointed behind, much 
larger in males than in females, and in the breeding season terminating 
in a free horn-like process; legs and toes very long and heavy. 
