GALLINFLA CHLOKOPUS. 



(THE COMMON WATERHEN.) 



Fulica chlorojms, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 258 (1766). 



Gallinula chlorojnis (L.), Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 770 (1790) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 

 p. 286 (1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 268 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. 

 iii. p. 718 (1864) ; Gould, B. of Europe, pi. 342 (1837) ; Schlegel, Mus. P.-B. Ealli, 

 p. 45 (1865) ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 414 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 475 ; Saunders, 

 Ibis, 1871, p. 225 ; Shelley, B. of Egypt, p. 275 (1872) ; Von Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. 

 ii. p. 1225 (1873); Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 250; Adam, t.c. p. 398; Irby, B. of 

 Gibraltar, p. 144 (1875) ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 597 (1875); Walden, Trans. 

 Z. S. 1875, ix. p. 228 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 187; Butler & Hume, ibid. 1876, 

 p. 20 ; Scully, t. c. p. 192 ; Butler, ibid. 1877, p. 224 ; Blakiston & Pryer, Ibis, 1878, 

 p. 225 ; Davison & Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.), p. 466 ; Ball, ibid. vii. 

 p. 229 ; Cripps, t. c. p. 306 ; Hume, ibid. 1879 (List of Ind. B.), p. 113 ; Dresser, B. of 

 Eur. pt. 74 (1879). 



Gallinula akool, Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 1844-45, xiii. no. 332. 



Gallinula parvifrons, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1843, xii. p. 180. 



Gallinula burned, Blyth, J. A. S. 1844, xiii. p. 736. 



La Poule d'eau, Buffon ; Moorhen, commonly in England ; Gallinha de agua, Portuguese ; 

 Waterhoentje, Dutch. Di djadj el ma, Arabic (Von Heuglin) ; Zelya-Jcahal, Moorish 

 (Favier, fide Irby) ; Khodan Kharonah, Turki (Scully) ; Godhan, Hind. ; Jumbu-kodi, 

 Boli-kodi, Telugu ; Jal-murghi, Hind.; Bakak paira, Bengal. (Jerdon) ; Ban, Japan. 



Adult male and female. Length (Turkestan) " 12-2 to 12-8 inches " (Scully) ; wing 6-5 to 7-3 ; tail 3-0 to 3T ; tarsus 1-8 

 to 2-1 ; middle toe 2-2 to 2-3, its claw 0-45 ; bill to gape 1-05 to 1-1, at front, from casque to tip, 1-4. The 

 larger measurements refer to females. These dimensions, except the " length," are from a series of examples in 

 the British Museum. An example in the Poole collection, procured by Layard in Ceylon, measures in the 

 wing 6 - 5. 



Dr. Scully's Turkestan measurements for wing in adults are 6-55 to 6'9, weight 6"2 to 6-4 oz. 



A fine male in my own collection from "Wales measured in the flesh : — Length 13-5 inches ; wing 7-2, expanse 22-5 ; 

 tail 3*1 ; tarsus 2T ; middle toe without claw 2-5, claw (straight) - 6 ; bill to gape l - 25, at front from casque 1*6. 



Iris red, with a slaty external edge ; bill and casque, to beyond nostril, chenw-red, apical third (but more on the lower 

 than the upper inaudible) lemon-yellow ; legs and feet yellowish green, front of the tarsus yellower than the rest ; 

 above the knee an orange-red garter, which varies in extent and brightness. 



Head and neck slaty black (with an olive gloss in a strong light), passing into slaty on the lower part of the hind neck, 

 and on the chest, breast, and upper flanks, the breast being paler than the rest of the fore parts ; back, scapulars, 

 and wing-coverts dusky brownish olive, darkening into rusty brown on the tertials and upper tail-coverts ; winglet, 

 primaries, and secondaries blackish slate ; margin of the first quill and of the outer wmglet-feather, the edge of 

 the metacarpal coverts and of the wing from the shoulder to the winglet white ; tail slaty black ; a broad stripe 

 of white on the upper webs of the flank-feathers ; abdomen, vent, and thighs slaty bluish, the feathers fringed 

 with white ; central under tail-covert feathers coal-black, the lateral plumes (which are longer than the black- 

 central ones) pure white ; under wing brownish black, the feathers faintly tipped with white. 



The white stripes on the flanks vary in individuals as regards size and number ; and the outer webs of the 1st quill and 

 winglet-feather are scarcely white in some. 



Young chicle. Legs dark grey ; iris greyish brown ; bill red. Dark sooty brown, with white tips to the feathers of 

 the chin. 



5h2 



