RALLID&. 321 



the lower mandible ; the legs and toes are yellowish 

 brown. 



374. Limnocorax niger (Gmel.). Black Crake. 



Gallinula flavirostra, Swainson's Birds of West Africa, vol. ii. pi. 28. 

 Gallinula niger, Layard's Cat. No. 642. 

 Rallus niger, Chapman's Travels in S. Afr., App. p. 421. 

 Ortygometra nigra, Finsch & Hartlaub's Vogel Ost-Afrika's, p. 779. 

 Limnocorax niger, Gray's Hand-list of Birds, No. 10458. 



I have not ^infrequently met with this species in 

 Damara Land in suitable localities, such as Objimbinque, 

 Schmelin's Hope, Omanbonde, &c. ; and it is by no 

 means uncommon on the rivers Okavango and Teoughe 

 and in the Lake-regions, though, from its excessively 

 shy habits and its partiality for dense reedy thickets, it 

 is difficult to obtain. The surest way of procuring spe- 

 cimens is to lie in ambush near one of their favourite 

 haunts ; but even thus success is not always certain. 



The iris is red ; the bill in the adult bird is yellow, 

 with a greenish tinge ; in the immature bird it is green ; 

 the legs are bright red in the adult, but paler in younger 

 specimens ; the red on the legs fades to almost a yellow 

 after death. 



GALLINULIDJ. 



375. Gallinula angulata, Sund. South-African Lesser Waterhen. 



Gallinula pumila, Sclater, in Ibis, 1859, pi. 7. 



Gurney, Birds Damar., Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 3. 



Gallinula angulata, Layard's Cat. No. 641. 



Ondonga, February 6th, 1867. I find the Lesser 



