RALLIDAE 249 



palmeri of Laysan, an interesting little flightless form with a soft 

 chirping note, which the first discoverer caught with a hand-net, 

 makes its nest under grass-tussocks. Closely allied to Porzana 

 is Creciscus, a genus of a dozen species ranging from the United 

 States to the Galapagos, Chili, and Paraguay ; two at least of 

 them being remarkable for building a spherical nest with a side 

 entrance in coarse herbage or low bushes, while one is said to 

 make a sort of ladder to reach a platform before its porch. 1 Lim- 

 nocorax niger of the Ethiopian Region is a glossy black bird 

 with red feet and greenish bill, which walks upon the leaves of 

 water-lilies and such plants, like a Ja^ana. 



Amaurornis, inhabiting the Oriental Region and extending to 

 New Britain, links the foregoing genera to the Gallinules. A. 

 phoenicura is a dark greyish bird with white under parts and 

 chestnut flanks, the other three species being duller. 



Tribonyx mortieri, the " Native Hen " of Victoria, South 

 Australia, and Tasmania, and T. ventralis of considerably wider 

 range, are respectively ruddy- and olive-brown forms, with blackish 

 tail and vent, slaty lower surface, and white flank-marks. They 

 appear at times in flocks, which arrive and depart with equal 

 suddenness, destroy the settlers' crops, strut about like fowls, and 

 in many respects resemble Moor-Hens in habits, nests, and eggs. 

 The legs are unusually powerful. 



Gallinula extends over the greater part of both hemispheres, 

 and is represented in Europe, Asia, and Africa by our common 

 Moor-Hen (G-. Moropus), dark olive-brown above and grey below, 

 with white lower tail-coverts, white flank-stripes, red frontal plate, 

 and scarlet garter on the tibia. G. galeata of most of the New 

 World differs in the posteriorly truncated shield, but G.sandvicensis 

 of the Sandwich Islands is barely separable. The smaller African 

 G. angulata, G. tenebrosa of Australia and New Guinea, and G. 

 frontata of the two last-named countries, the Moluccas and Borneo, 

 complete the group ; unless G. pyrrlwrlioa of Madagascar and G. 

 dionysiana of St. Denys be accounted distinct from G. Moropus. 

 The flightless G. (Porphyriornis) nesiotis of Tristan da Cunha 

 a,nd G. comeri of Gough Island have already been mentioned. 

 Gallicrex cinerea, the " Water-Cock " of the Indian Eegion, which 

 reaches Japan, is dull black, with lighter edges to the feathers 

 above, a yellow and red bill, and red frontal shield. A pinkish 

 1 See Salmon, P.Z.S. 1879, p. 546, andcf. Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 193 ; 1878, p. 65. 



