GRALLATORIA. 397 
Vieill. Gal. 267, which has no horn on the vertex, and whose 
occiput is ornamented with a circle of erectile feathers. The 
head and upper part of the neck are only covered with down, 
and it has a black collar. The rest of its plumage is lead-co- 
loured, and blackish with a white spot on the tip of the wing, 
and a second over the base of some of the large quills. The ex- 
ternal toes are considerably palmated. It chiefly feeds on aquatic 
plants, and the Indians of Carthagena always keep some of them 
among their geese and chickens, as it is sufficiently courageous, 
according to them, to repulse even the Vulture. A singular 
circumstance attending this bird is, that air is every where in- 
terposed between the skin and muscles, even on the legs, in 
such a quantity as causes it to crackle under the finger. 
Although there is scarcely any part of the leg naked in(1) 
Meearopius, 
We still think it should be placed near Palamedea. It is a genus 
lately discovered in New Guinea, in which the bill is arched and 
slightly compressed, the membranous nostrils occupying about the 
one half; the legs are strong, high, and scutellated; the thumb and 
toes long, and terminated by large nails somewhat flattened; the tail 
is short, the circumference of the eye partly naked, and there is a 
small tubercle on the carpus, the first and slight vestige of the spur 
of the Palamedex. The membrane between the external toesis very 
short; between the internal ones it is somewhat larger. The eggs 
are very disproportionate in size to that of the bird. 
One species is tufted almost like the Chavaria,—the Megap. 
Duperrey, Less. and Garn., Voy. de Duperr. Zool., pl. 37. Two 
others, the MW. de Freycinet and M. de Lapeyrouse, Quoy and Gaym. 
Voy. de Freycin. pl. 28 and 27, and Col. 220, are destitute of 
the tuft.(2) A fourth, which is smaller, the lectelie de Dur- 
ville, Voy. de Dup., pl. 38, appears to have no tail. 
Of the tribe whose wings have no armature, Linneus com- 
prises in his genus /ulica such as have their beak prolonged 
~ into a sort of shield, which partly covers the forehead; and 
in his genus Radius, those in which this peculiarity does not 
exist. [See App. XXV of Am. Ed. ] 
(1) There is scarcely any part of the leg naked in the Rallus Crez. 
(2) The Mégap. Duperrey is called Tavon in Manilla. Although hardly as large asa 
Partridge, it lays an egg equal in size to that of a Goose. Add the Mégap. a2 pieds 
rouges, Col. 411. 
