RALLIDA—MOORHEN. 237 
on flanks and under tail-coverts, on which the feathers are 
barred and mottled ‘with white ; ax7//aries chestnut; bill, legs 
and feet flesh-colour; irides pale brown. Length about sro 
inch2s ; culmen 1; wing 5°8; tail 2; tarsus 1°5. 
Adult Female: Slightly smaller and paler than the male ; 
the grey of the sides of head and under parts not so distinct. 
Young in first plumage: Have no grey on the under 
parts ; cheeks mottled with pale brown. 
Distribution : Summer visitant to Northern and Central 
Europe and Western-central Asia from Africa, where it occurs 
as far south as Cape Colony. 
Habitat: Damp corn-fields and meadows. 
Genus GALLINULA. 
WATERHEN, OR MOORHEN. 
Gallinula chloropus (Z7zz.). 
Adult : Head, neck and upper part of back deep s/aty-grey , 
rest of upper parts deep olive-brown ; edge of the wing and 
under tail-coverts white, some of the latter tinged with buff ; 
franks longitudinally banded with white ; a few feathers below 
the vent black; rest of under parts slate-grey, shading into 
brown on flanks; feathers of abdomen having white tips ; bill 
and frontal plate scarlet, the former shading into yellow at tip ; 
legs and feet green, irides hazel. Length 13 inches ; culmen 
and frontal plate 1°5 ; wing 6°7 ; tail 3 ; tarsus 2. 
Young in first plumage: Crown and nape, like rest of 
upper parts, olivaceous-brown ; chin and upper throat white ; 
under parts generally greyish-brown, most of the feathers hav- 
ing white tips; flanks tinged with olivaceous; frontal plate 
(which is smaller than in adult) and bill brown, the latter 
greenish towards tip. 
Distribution : Found in temperate Europe, through Africa 
to Cape Colony and across Central Asia to Japan and the 
Philippines. 
Habitat: Marshes or reedy margins of rivers. 
