GRALLATORES. GALLINULA. 187 
inch in length. Middle toe, with its claw, one inch and 
a half long. Wing-spine small and short. 
In the female, the eyebrows and cheeks are pale grey. 
The throat greyish-white. Neck and breast of a paler 
grey, slightly tinged with yellowish-brown. The dark 
mesial line on the back having fewer white spots. 
The young have few or no distinct white spots upon the 
upper parts of the body ; and the fore part of the neck, 
the breast, and belly, are of a yellowish-white. The 
flanks, vent, and under tail-coverts brown, barred with 
pale yellowish-brown. 
For a more detailed account of this bird, I refer my 
readers to the Supplement to Monracvu’s Ornithologi- 
cal Dictionary, under the article Gallinule, Little. 
Genus GALLINULA, Zara. GALLINULE. 
GENERIC CHARACTERS. 
Bill thick at the base, compressed, slightly swollen to- 
wards the tip, subconic, as short as the head. Upper man- 
dible convex, with the culmen extended and dilated, forming 
a naked frontal plate or shield ; lateral furrow wide. Man- 
dibles of nearly equal length; angle of the lower one as- 
cending. 'Tomia of the under mandible slightly intracted, 
and covered by the upper. 
Nostrils lateral, pervious, pierced in the membrane of the 
furrow in the middle of the bill; longitudinal, and linear. 
Wings (as in Rallus and Crev) armed with a small sharp 
recumbent spine. 
Legs strong, of mean length, naked for a short space 
above the tarsal joint. Front of the tarsus scutellated ; 
hinder part reticulated. Feet four-toed, three before and 
one behind; toes long, divided, and bordered through their 
whole length by a narrow entire membrane. 
Female. 
Young. 
