300 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF INDIA. 



this is not the case with either of our May specimens. We 

 have also a specimen killed in June, but this also shows no 

 sign of summer plumage. 



904.— Gallicrex cinereus, Gm. (1.) 



I never observed this species anywhere, but Davison 

 remarks : — " The Water-cock found at the Andaman belies its 

 name by never, (as far as I have observed), being found near 

 water ; the only places in which I have observed it are the 

 sugarcane fields ; in these it is not uncommon especially about 

 Aberdeen. During the day it keeps under shelter ; but in the 

 morning and evening comes into the open to feed, seldom 

 however wandering far from cover, to which it retreats on the 

 slightest alarm. I am unable to say if it is a permanent resident 

 at the Andamans ; but most probably it is, so, I was unable to 

 learn anything about its nidification. I did not observe it at 

 the Nicobars/' 



The following are the dimensions recorded in the flesh of a 

 female shot at Aberdeen, South Andamans : — 



Length, 13*5 ; expanse, 23*4 ; wing, 7*12 ; tail; from vent, 3 ; 

 tarsus, 265 ; bare portion of tibia, 1*4; mid toe and claw, 

 3'35 ; bill, from gape, 1*4; bill, at front, from posterior mar- 

 gin of shield, 1*5 ; weight, 10 ozs. 



The legs and feet were greenish horny ; bill light brownish 

 horny ; lower mandible pale yellowish horny, pinkish white at 

 tip ; irides umber brown. 



907.— Gallinula phoenicura, Perm. (19.) 



We met with this Water-hen in suitable localities everywhere 

 from the Great Cocos to Acheen, the northermost point of 

 Sumatra. I do not think it possible to separate the Andaman and 

 Nicobar birds from the Indian, but it may be useful to point out 

 certain differences of plumage which are noticeable in many of 

 the island birds. 



In the first place in the full breeding plumage the whole head 

 in some birds, as far back as the occiput, becomes perfectly white, 

 while in some even the feathers of the nape are mingled with 

 white. In a large series of the Indian birds, some of them taken 

 off the nest, the width of the white frontal band in none exceeds 

 0*45 ; in the Nicobar and Andaman birds the white, in one spe- 

 cimen, extends over an inch backwards from the forehead, and it 

 exceeds 0*6 in several. In the second place in adults there is very 

 much less white on the under-surface than is usual in Indian 

 examples ; in these latter from the chin to the vent there is 

 usually a broad uninterrupted band of white ; in the Nicobar 



