266 RALLID3: POKrHYKIO 



together above the nest to form a partial shelter against the sun 

 and to afford concealment. The clutch usually consists of four eggs ; 

 three of these, preserved in the South African Museum, are oval- 

 shaped like a hen's egg, and of a very pale brown ground colour, 

 spotted and blotched with a darker rufous-brown most thickly at 

 the obtuse end ; they measure 1/71 x 1*21. 



Genus IX. PORPHYRIO. 



Type. 



Porphyrio, Briss. Orn. v. p. 522 (1760) P. madagascariensis. 



Porphyriola, Sund. Av. Tent. p. 131 (1872) P. alleni. 



Bill short, high and rather compressed ; frontal shield well 

 developed ; nostrils oval or round ; wings rather short and rounded, 

 the first primary about equal to the secondaries ; toes long, the 

 middle one with its claw exceeding the tarsus in length ; no lateral 

 membrane or lobes to the toes ; plumage bright blue and green. 



Some seventeen species of this genus are known ; they are 

 spread over Africa and Madagascar, Southern Europe and Asia, 

 Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Two occur in 

 South Africa. 



Key of the Species. 



A. Larger, wing over 9'0 ; nostrils rounded... P. madagascariensis, p. 266. 



B. Smaller, wing under 6*0; nostrils oval ... P. alleni, p. 268. 



,^ 

 683. Porphyrio madagascariensis. King Reed Hen. 



Fulica porphyrio, Linn. Si/st. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 258 (1766). 

 Gallinula madagascariensis, Lath. Ind. Orn. Sitppl. p. 68 (1801). 

 Porphyrio smaragnotus, Tennn., Man. Onrith. ii, p. 700 (1820) ; Gnrney, 



Ibis, 1859, p. 249 [Natal] ; id. in Andersson's B. Damaral p. 325 



(1872); Ay res, Ibis, 1874, p. 105 ; Dresser, B. Eiir. vii, p. 303, pi. 501 



(1876) ; Butler, Feilden ,f- lieid, Zool 1882, p. 426. 

 Porphyrio erythropus, Stephens, Genl. Zool. xii, pt. 1, p. 255 (1824) ; 



Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 341 (1867). 

 Porphyrio smaragdonotus, Giirncy, Ibis, 1868, p. 469 [Natal] ; Ayrcs, 



Ibis, 1880, p. 271 ; Sharpe, ed, Layard 's B. S. Afr. p. 619 (1884) ; 



Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 334; Brydcn, Gun and Camera, p. 408 



(1893) ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith, 1894, p. 383. 

 Porphyrio porphyrio, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 195 (1894) ; Shelley, 



B. Afr. i, p. 175 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 170 (1898); 



Beichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 290 (1900). 

 " Koning-Reit-Haan " of the Dutch. 



