608 



GALLINULE. 



ing. The space round the eye is generally naked, 

 but it wants the fine red colour which appears in the 

 grouse. The more particular characters are : the 

 bill of mean length, compressed, slender in most of 

 the species ; the upper mandible straight in the prin- 

 cipal part of its length, and curved only near the 

 tip. The nostrils basal, half closed above with a 

 membrane, and covered with the feathers of the front. 

 The three front toes united by membrane as far as 

 the first joint. The hind toe often wanting, or a mere 

 rudiment, and in all cases articulated so far up on the 

 tarsus as not to touch the ground in walking. The 

 claws, with the exception of that on the hind te, are 

 rather obtuse and broad. The tail is long and 

 wedge-shaped or pointed, the two middle feathers 

 being often produced beyond the others. The wings 

 long and pointed, the first quill being the longest. 

 As there is none of the genus resident or visitant in 

 the British islands, they have no appropriate English 

 names ; for the compounds of the word " grouse," 

 with other epithets which have been given to them, 

 are not applicable. The French call them gangas. 



P. Alchata, the " pin-tailed grouse" of Latham, 

 is found in the south of Europe, .but only in hot and 

 sandy places. It is yellowish, rayed with black on 

 the upper part, with the points of the scapular feathers 

 bluish. The lesser coverts are streaked with red and 

 brown, and have white tips. The head and neck are 

 ash colour, and the throat black, with a large collar 

 of pale orange, bordered with black. The under 

 parts are whitish. The tail-feathers are white at the 

 terminations, and the three middle ones slender and 

 longer than the rest by three inches. The length 

 is thirteen or fourteen inches. They are far more 

 numerous in the dry places of the north of Africa 

 and southwest of Asia than they are in the south of 

 Europe. The young are eaten, but the old birds are 

 of small value. We can afford space only to mention 

 one or two of the others. 



P, Tachypoetes (Namaqua) is bright red, brown, 

 and black on the upper part ; purplish on the under, 

 and about ten inches in length. It is found in the 

 sultry deserts of Africa, where the flocks, which are 

 numerous, often guide the traveller to the springs, 

 pools, and water-courses ; but if the birds clear the 

 horizon, without wheeling or halting, it is a sign that 

 there is no water near ; and a very painful sign in 

 such a country. 



P. quadricinctits (the " Indian grouse" of some 

 authors) is a native of India. The upper parts are 

 yellowish, rayed with brown and black ; the coverts 

 of the wings yellow, with a broad band of white 

 and one of black ; the forehead white, crossed at the 

 top with a black band ; the back of the head russet, 

 with black lines. The breast rays with white and 

 black, forming four narrow cinctures ; the under parts 

 white, with black lines ; the bill yellow, and the feet 

 and claws brown. The length of the male is about 

 nine inches and a half. The female is smaller and 

 paler in the colours. 



P. arenarius (sand grouse of authors) inhabits the 

 sandy places of western Asia and Africa, but is also found 

 in some of the more arid spots of the south of Europe. 

 Upper part yellowish ash, spotted with blue and yel- 

 low. The belly, thighs, under tail-coverts, and tail- 

 feathers black ; the breast reddish ash, with one black 

 band across. Length twelve to fourteen inches. 

 This is understood to be a migratory bird, for which 

 the form of its wings is well adapted. Its range is 



from the sandy steppes in the south of Russia, to the 

 borders of the African desert on the Nile, and, pro- 

 bably, also on the Niger. The hind toe is wholly 

 wanting in this species, but there is sometimes a rudi- 

 ment of a claw or spur in, or, at least near, its place. 



There are several more species or accidental varie- 

 ties of these singular birds ; but they differ from 

 those that have been named in so few particulars , 

 and the manners of them are so imperfectly known, 

 that we shall not name any of the remaining ones. 

 Thus we must close our very brief sketch of the 

 Gallinidce, an order of birds which, in as far as vahn- 

 to man is concerned, has no equal in the feathered 

 race. It would have been pleasant to us to enter 

 into many more details, but we trust that what has 

 been said will be useful in itself, and lead to the 

 desire and the attainment of further knowledge. 



GALLINULE (Gallinula) the "water hen." 

 A genus of Echassiers, or stilt birds, belonging to the 

 long-toed or macrodactylic division. The characters 

 'are : the bill shorter than the head, compressed, 

 conical, and generally higher than broad at the base. 

 The mandibles are of equal length, both compressed 

 at the extremity, and the upper one curved at the tip. 

 The nostrils are placed laterally in the bill, at about 

 the middle of its length, and they are longitudinal 

 and in part covered by membrane. The tarsi are 

 long, and so are the toes, of which there are three to 

 the front and one to the rear, the front ones bordered 

 with a straight membrane. The wings are of mean 

 length, and hollow ; the first quill is shorter than the 

 second, and the third and fourth are the longest in 

 the wing. 



It is not very easy to assign to these birds their 

 proper place in the system. They have been united 

 with other races by different authors, but they do not 

 harmonise properly with any. They have been con- 

 founded with the rails, and also with the coots ; but 

 they differ from both in structure as well as in habits. 

 Their habits are as perplexing as their generic charac- 

 ters. They are not, strictly speaking, land birds or 

 water birds ; and as little can they be included in any 

 of the ordinary sections of those which are termed 

 shore or beach birds ; for these last are in general 

 short-toed birds, fitted for running upon sand or gravel. 

 These birds are more aquatic than the rails, but less 

 so than the coots, for they do not launch themselves 

 upon the water and remain at comparative rest there, 

 though they dash along readily and swiftly both on 

 the surface of the water and under it. 



They are birds which inhabit closely by the banks 

 of streams, rivers, and lakes, where there is abundant 

 vegetation, consequently only in the low land or 

 warmer parts of cold countries. At some seasons of 

 the year they inhabit so very closely, that it has been 

 often alleged that they migrate ; but there appears to 

 be no good ground i'or the allegation. If the rails 

 and coots are separated, as they certainly ought to be, 

 there are only two species, the common water hen 

 and the sultana water hen, both of which are found 

 in Europe, though the sultana is understood to be 

 originally from Africa. These two agree in their 

 habits, though not in their localities, or in their size 

 and colours ; and, on account of these differences, 

 many authors have made them separate genera, re- 

 stricting Gallinule to the common species, and calling 

 the other Porphyrio. Both differ from the rails, and 

 agree with the coots in having a horny plate or shield 

 advanced upon the front, though not so conspicuously 



