446 Rallidce. 



the river between Trowbridge and Bradford-on-Avon, and which 

 the Rev. A. P. Morres, who saw it in the flesh the day after its 

 capture, described as ' evidently a Gallinule, but somewhat larger 

 than, and quite different in colour to, our Moorhen ; the legs and 

 iris of eye of a rich crimson lake ; beak light green, inclining to 

 yellow at the base; head, neck, and thighs, pure gray; back, 

 bright olive-green ; tail, tail coverts, and vent, black ; breast, rich 

 rufous brown, and wings bright brown, with a touch of crimson 

 on the quills. On the underside of the wing the axillaries were 

 beautifully barred with rufous and black* Mr. Morres most 

 obligingly took out one of these feathers, and sent it to me, 

 together with a description of the bird and details of its capture. 

 But I, being wholly ignorant of the species, and so unable to 

 supply the information required, forwarded the feather to 

 Professor Newton, at Cambridge, and there Mr. 0. Salvin, guided 

 by that single feather alone, recognised the bird and declared its 

 species, a declaration which a comparison with some skins in the 

 museum at Cambridge amply confirmed. This was certainly a 

 great triumph of ornithological acumen, and Professor Newton, 

 in proof of the correctness of the determination thus happily 

 arrived at, enclosed to me another feather which almost exactly 

 matched the feather I had forwarded to him. Professor Newton 

 added : ' I purposely chose one that is not exactly the same, that 

 there may be no confusion, the larger feather being the one I 

 had from you, the smaller one from a specimen in the Swainson 

 Collection. As its name implies, it is an inhabitant of Cayenne 

 and adjoining parts, occurring in Trinidad, but I should think 

 nowhere nearer to this country : it has been brought over several 

 times to the Zoological Gardens, and probably you might see it 

 there now. I cannot imagine that it should find its way to us 

 unassisted, but if it should make good its escape, I dare say it 

 might continue to exist for some weeks or months in this country, 

 except in winter. Aramides is a rather aberrant genus of Rails, 

 found only in the New World.' On making inquiries at the 

 Zoological Gardens at Clifton, Mr. Morres could not learn that 

 any such bird had ever been confined there, nor could he discover 



