GALLINULA CHLOEOPUS. 783 



In India the Moorhen is generally diffused throughout the country, and inhabits both the hills and the 

 plains. It breeds as high as Ootacamund in the Nilghiris, and must therefore be a permanent resident in the 

 uplands of Southern India. It does not, however, seem to have been met with by either Mr. Bourdillon or 

 Dr. Fairbank, from which I infer that it is very local in its distribution. From the northern parts of India it 

 is recorded by all who have collected of late years. Mr. Hume says that it abounds in every swamp and 

 " broad " in Sindh. Captain Butler notes it from tanks between Deesa and Ahmedabad, and particularly from 

 those near Milana, 18 miles from the former place; it is not, however, so common in this region as in Sindh. 

 In the Sambhur-Lake district, according to Mr. Adam, it abounds. Messrs. Davidson and Wender say that it 

 is not rare in the Deccan. Passing over the north-eastern region of the peninsula, we find Mr. Ball recording 

 it from the Rajmehal hills, Bardwan, Nowagarh, and Karial, and Mr. Hume from Raipur and Sambalpur, south 

 of theMahanadi; the latter gentleman also observes that it is brought into the Calcutta market at times; and 

 Mr. Cripps has met with it in February in Furreedpore. In North-eastern Cachar Mr. Inglis affirms that it is 

 very common ; and the same is recorded of it as regards Upper Pegu by Mr. Oates. In Tenasserim it is said 

 to be confined to the north and central portions of the province ; and Mr. Davison procured one specimen at a 

 place called Shymotee. 



Throughout China and Formosa it is, says Swinhoe, to be found, and, according to Pere David, is abun- 

 dant near Pekin. Crossing over to the Philippines, we find it again an inhabitant of that extensive archi- 

 pelago ; Cuming procured it there ; and Lord Walden cites (/. c.) two examples from Luzon obtained by Herr 

 Meyer. It extends northward to Japan, and is included in Messrs. Blakiston and Pryer's list of birds as 

 frequenting Tokio, Yezo, and Yokohama. 



Returning now to India, and following it to the north-west of the empire, we find Stoliczka observing it 

 breeding on the Woolar lake in Cashmir ; and across the range it is common, says Dr. Scully, in the plains of 

 Eastern Turkestan in summer, though he never saw it in winter. Severtzoff says that it breeds in the south- 

 eastern, south-western, and north-western districts of this country, ranging for that purpose as high as 

 4000 feet. In Central Asia it breeds at Lake Tsaidemin-nor, but, writes Prjevalsky, does not occur in the 

 Ussuri country. Middendorff does not record it from Siberia, nor Schrenck from Amoorland, so that we 

 cannot accurately define its northernmost limit in Central Asia. In Palestine and in Asia Minor it is found 

 at all seasons. 



It is resident in some of the islands of the Mediterranean, but not common in Corsica. In Italy it is 

 migratory in some parts of the country ; for Dr. H. Giglioni affirms that it arrives in the neighbourhood 

 of Pisa in April, and is then very common there. In Transylvania Messrs. Alston and Harvie Brown 

 likewise testify to its being a migrant. In the south of Spain Col. Irby states that it is resident, being 

 tolerably plentiful and generally distributed in all suitable localities. Mr. Saunders found it breeding 

 near Seville; and Lord Lilford observed it in the Madrid neighbourhood. In France, Germany, Holland, 

 and the British Isles it is a common bird, not breeding, however, in Shetland. It passes through 

 Heligoland, according to Herr Gatke, in April and May, returning in August and September. It ranges 

 as far north as the Central parts of Sweden, and is sometimes seen in Finland. The Faroe islands are also 

 inhabited by it. 



As regards the continent of Africa, it is resident, according to Favier, in the vicinity of Tangier ; and in 

 Lower Egypt and the Fayoom it is, says Capt. Shelley, plentiful in some districts; elsewhere in the country 

 he did not meet with it, though he supposes that it is probably distributed throughout it. Von Heuglin 

 writes that it is a bird of passage to North-east Africa and the Arabian coast, remaining in these regions from 

 October till March, during which period it is common in Abyssinia, ranging as far south as the Gala district, 

 and ascending the highlands to an altitude of 10,000 feet. This author likewise considers it probable that it 

 breeds in the delta of the Nile. It ranges down the entire continent of South Africa, and has been obtained 

 at Mozambique and in the islands of Mauritius and Reunion, and likewise in the Seychelles. Mr. F. Barratt 

 shot it in the Transvaal and on the Orange River, and procured it in Pretoria in December. Layard says it 

 is not uncommon in Cape Colony ; and it has also been obtained in Damara Land. 



On the west coast it inhabits Senegal, and has been obtained in Angola, Benguela, and the island of 

 St. Thomas. Mr. Du Cane Godman notes it as a straggler to the island of Madeira, and considers that it has 

 been introduced into St. Michael's (Azores), where it is found on the Lagoa do Fogo. 



