198 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



more than preceding ; the culmen ridge narrow, a little swollen but not expanded 

 at fore-head where it meets with a semicircular base ; other characters of bill as in 

 Tomirdus, but interramal space much narrower and gonys slightly less, an indistinct 

 groove along the sides of the lower mandible reaching to the gonys. The wing is 

 short, but strong for this group, the first primary comparatively long, but still 

 shorter than seventh, the second, however, almost the longest, equalling or exceeding 

 the third, the others successively little shorter ; inner secondaries long and pointed. 

 The tail is composed of twelve rather narrow pointed feathers forming a wedge and 

 less than half the length of the wing and not twice the length of the bill ; the tarsus 

 is short and strong, though laterally compressed and scutellated in front and behind ; 

 the toes are long, the inner with the claw equal to the middle toe but shorter than 

 the outer ; the hind -toe long. 



Coloration brownish above with white spotting, leaden-grey below, flanks and 

 abdomen barred with white, 



136. Porzana fluminea. SPOTTED CRAKE. 



Gould, Vol. VI., pi. 79 (pt. x.), March l8t, 1843. Mathews. Vol. I., pt. 4, pi. 51, Aug. 9th. 

 1911. 



Porzana fluminea Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1842, p. 139, Feb. 1843 : New South Wales. 

 Rallus novcehollandice Pucheran, Revue Mag. Zool., p. 278, for June 1851 (July) : ex Cuvier 

 MS., New South Wales (Peron and Lesueur Coll.). 



Porzana fluminea whitei Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., pt. 3, p. 73, June 28th, 1912 : 

 Eyre's Peninsula, South Australia. 



DISTRIBUTION. Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, 

 South-west Australia. 



Adult male. General colour above olive-brown, the feathers centred with black 

 mostly concealed, and thickly spotted with white on the mantle and streaked with 

 white on the lower back and rump ; all the white markings edged with a narrow 

 line of black ; upper tail-coverts also olive-brown, with concealed black centres to 

 the feathers, which have small white spots on either web ; wing-coverts for the most 

 part uniform olive-brown, the median and greater coverts with white spots, each 

 of which is margined with black ; quills brown, the first primary with a few linear 

 spots of white on the outer web, which is less indicated on the others ; inner 

 secondaries spotted with white, the innermost blackish down the centre and more 

 profusely spotted with white, like the adjoining greater coverts ; tail-feathers 

 olive-brown, centred with black and spotted or edged with white ; crown of head 

 like the back, the white spots being very small and nearly obsolete on the mantle ; 

 base of fore-head, sides of crown, sides of face and ear-coverts leaden-grey, the latter 

 washed with olive-brown, and speckled with tiny white spots ; lores black ; feathers 

 in front of the eye, as well as the fore-part of the cheeks, grey ; throat, fore-neck and 

 entire breast leaden-grey ; centre of abdomen whitish, barred with grey ; under 

 tail-coverts black, lateral ones white ; sides of body and flanks distinctly barred with 

 white and black, the black bars being somewhat the broader ; axillaries blackish, 

 barred with white, and resembling the flanks ; under wing-coverts dusky -brown 

 barred with whitish ; quills dull ashy-brown below ; bill olive-green, orange-red 

 at the base ; feet dark olive-green. Total length 172 mm. ; culmen 20, wing 93, 

 tail 37, tarsus 27. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 



Immature. Upper-surface similar to that of the adult, but the back browner 

 with buff edges to the feathers ; lores, sides of face and all under-surface paler with 

 white tips to the feathers ; sides of chest washed with brownish ; abdomen and 

 flanks feathers with less distinct brownish bars and tips ; iris dark yellow ; feet 

 pale green ; bill pale green. 



Nestling. Appears to be undescribed. 



