COMMON GALLINULE. 



genus Plotus. On the lower part of the belly and 

 vent, the feathers are tipped with greyish white, 

 which prevails more or less on the centre of these 

 parts, and on the flanks, where the oil green predo- 

 minates, the feathers are dashed with long streaks 

 of white ; the true under tail-coverts are white, hut 

 the feathers of the vent are deep hlack, and run in 

 upon them in an angular point; the naked parts 

 of the tibia> are hright vermilion-red, shadmg to 

 yellow, and often appear conspicuous; the feet and 

 legs are olive green. In the female the colours 

 are not so bright, and the frontal shield does not 

 cover so large a space. In a specimen before us 

 the rump is barred at the tips of the feathers with 

 deep brown and pale yellowish-brown, producing a 

 pleasing arrangement. In the young, the frontal 

 shield is scarcely visible, the whole plumage has a 

 tint of brown spread over it ; on the throat brown- 

 ish-white, and on the lower parts being yellowish- 

 brown, paler in the centre of the belly, and nearly 

 wanting the white longitudinal streaks seen m the 

 adults ; the feet and legs are of a duller tint, 

 young, when newly hatched, are covered with a 

 tair-like black down. 



