1 76 EALLID.E. 



border of the first primary white ; outer tail-feathers black : 

 middle of abdomen, with rare exceptions, partly white ; under tail- 

 coverts white, except a tuft of shorter coverts in the middle, which 

 is black. 



Young birds have the head, neck, and lower parts brownish 

 grey ; the latter much mixed with white. 



Frontal shield and basal half or two-thirds of bill red, remainder 

 of bill greenish yellow ; irides red ; tibia and front of tarsus greenish 

 yellow, hind part of tarsus and all toes slaty green ; an orange ring 

 round the tibia just below the feathPred portion (Oates}. 



Length 12-5 ; tail 2-75 ; wing 6*5 ; tarsus 1'9 ; bill from gape I'l. 

 Females run smaller. Indian birds are smaller than European. 



Distribution. The greater part of Europe, Asia, and Africa, 

 including the whole of India, Ceylon, and Burma. This species 

 is in India a resident or a partial migrant, leaving particular tracts 

 in the season when swamps and streams are dry. In Gilgit the 

 Moorhen is only found when passing in the spring and autumn. 



Habits, $c. In India the Moorhen is more commonly found 

 about reedy tanks and marshes, especially those much covered 

 with floating vegetation, than on the banks of rivers, though it 

 also resorts to the latter at times. It swims well with a jerky 

 movement, and it runs when on land with the tail erect and the 

 white under tail -coverts conspicuous. Like other Bails, it feeds 

 on various kinds of vegetable food and on insects. The breeding- 

 season in India varies somewhat, but is generally in July, August, 

 and September in the plains. In the hills this bird is believed to 

 breed twice : in May and again about July. The nest is a bulky 

 platform of straw, flags, or rushes, in the water or close to it, 

 sometimes in a bush, and the eggs, 5 to 9 in number, are pale 

 stone-colour, spotted and speckled with red, reddish brown, and 

 purple, and measuring about 1-62 by 1-21. 



Genus GALLICREX, Blyth, 1849. 



Bill stout, of moderate length, about as long as the long hind- 

 toe without the claw ; frontal shield pointed behind, much larger 

 in males than in females, and in the breeding- season terminating 

 on the vertex in a fleshy horn-like peak. All toes long, the middle 

 toe, without claw, longer than the tarsus. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th 

 quills subequal, the 3rd generally slightly the longest, 1st between 

 the 6th and 8th in length. Sexes dissimilar, males larger than 

 females. 



A single species. 



1403. Gallicrex cinerea. The Kora or Water-Cod'. 



Fulica cinerea, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 702 (1788). 



Gallinula cristata, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. 773 (1790). 



Eallus rufescens, Jerdon. Mad. Jour. L. S. xii, p. 205 (1840). 



