RALLID.E — THE GALLINULES — GALLINULA. 



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made as that of the Common (Jallinulo, it being flat, and having an internal diameter 

 of eiglit or ten inches, and an entire breadtli of about fifteen. The eggs are said to 

 be from five to seven in number — rarely more — and to resemble those of G. galeata. 

 This resemlilanro is not very marked, however, and the eggs of the two speeies may 

 always be readily distinguished one from the other by tlie delicacy of the shell of 

 the egg of this species, and the more pinkish hue of the ground. Audubon describes 

 the eggs as of a light yellowisli gray, spotted with blackish brown. The young are 

 at first quite black, and covered with down, and are fully fledgt'd by the 1st of June. 

 The ground-color of the eggs, both in the collection of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion and in my own, is of a light pinkish buff, covered with scattered markings of 

 a purplish slate, and tliese are, for the most part, small roiuidish spots. Two eggs 

 (jSTo. 79) in my collection, from Matamoras, collected by Dr. Berlaudier, measure, one 

 1.75 inches by 1.20 ; the other, 1.58 by 1.25. Two other eggs, from Louisiana (No. 

 670), measure, one, 1.75 by 1.20 inches ; the other, 1.70 by 1.28. The ground-color of 

 the latter is of a deeper shade than usual of the pinkish buff so characteristic of the 

 eggs of the genus PorpJujrio. 



Genus GALLINULA, Beisson. 

 Gallinula, Briss. Oni. \'J. 1760, 3 (type, Fiilica chloropus, Linn.). 



Char. Bill shorter than head, compressed, its vertical outlines convex terminally, .straight or 

 slightly concave opposite the nostril ; nostril elongated, longitudinal, slit-like ; forehead covered 

 by an extension of the horny covering of the bill (rudimentary in the j'ouug). Middle toe longer 

 than the tarsus ; toes with a slight lateral membrane or margin. 



The above characters will serve readily to distinguish the species of this genus from the allied 

 American genera, lonornis and rorphyriops, the former having the nostril small and oval, the middle 



O. gaZeata. 



toe shorter than the tarsus, and the toes without trace of lateral membrane, while the latter (an 

 exclusively South American genus) has the frontal shield small and conical, and is, moreover, 

 composed of birds of small size. Two American species of Gallinula are kno\ni, both more nearly 

 allied to the G. chloropus of Europe than to any another species, but very distinct from that, as 

 well as from each other. Their distinctive characters may be expressed thus : — 



Com. Char. Plain dark plumbeous, clearer plumbeous beneath, usually tinged with dark olive 



