244 RUFOUS-TAILED WATER HE1V. 



their covers are not lengthened. The bill and legs 

 seem to have been dark-green in the living bird. 



Total length about 6 inches ; bill, gape, T 8 5 ; 

 front, T 6 o ; wings, 3^ ; tarsus, 1^ ; middle toe and 

 claw, 1 T 4 5 ; hinder, $; tail, base, 2. 



YELLOW-BILLED WATER HEN. 



Gallimda fiavirostra, SWAINS. 

 PLATE XXVIII. 



Entirely deep and uniform black ; bill bright yellow ; eyej 

 lids and feet red. 



Gallinula flavirostra, Classif. Birds, ii. part 5, No. 170.* Rallu* 

 niger ? Lath. Gen. Hist. ix. p. 380. 



To this species, which is probably one of those which 

 pass under the general name of Black Rail, we have 

 not affixed the specific name of Niger, because Dr. 

 Latham's account is too vague to be applied with- 

 out doubt. He mentions, for instance, that the legs 

 are either brown or red, that the end of the bill is 

 brown, that the plumage in general is dusky-black, 

 but deepest on the head, and that the claws are 

 " hooked." As these discrepancies with our Sene- 

 gal specimens lead to the suspicion that there may 



* On account of the bulk of the second volume, the publishers 

 have omitted the fifth part, wherein was described 203 new 

 birds referred to in the body of the work. This part, how- 

 ever, is to appear in a subsequent volume, and proof sheets 

 have been forwarded to our most distinguished ornithologists. 



