Subgenus ERYTHRA. 

 Bill longer than in GaUinula ; the culraen scarcely prolonged upon the forehead ; 2nd quill 

 shorter than the 3rd. Tarsus proportionately longer, equal to the middle toe without its claw. 



ERYTHRA PHCENICURA. 



(THE WHITE:BREASTED WATERHEN. 



Rallus phoenicurus, Forster, Ind. Zool. p. 19, pi. 9 (1781), ex Ceylon ; Ginelin, ed. Syst. Nat. 



i. p. 715 (1788). 

 GaUinula phcenicura (Forst.), Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 770 (1790) ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. 



p. 135 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 268 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. 



iii. p. 720 (1864) ; Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Ralli, p. 41 (1865) ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 



1871, p. 414 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 476 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 424, et 1874, 



p. 300 ; Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 276; Hume, Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 599 (1875); Butler 



& Hume, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 21 ; Fairbank, t. c. p. 263 ; Butler, ibid. 1877, p. 224 ; 



Davison & Hume, ibid. 1878 (B. of Tenass.), p. 466 ; Ball, ibid. viii. p. 229. 

 GaUinula javanica, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 136 (1821); Sykes, Cat. B. Deccan, 



P. Z. S. 1832, p. 164. 

 Porzana phcenicura (Penn.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 284 (1849); id. Ibis, 1867, 



p. 171 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 251. 

 Erythra phcenicura (Penn.), Tveich. Syst. Av. Nat. p. 21 (1852); Walden, Trans. Z. S. 1872, 



viii. p. 94; Salvadori, Uccelli di Born. p. 340 (1874); Walden, Trans. Zool. Soc. 



1875, ix. p. 229 ; Davidson & AVender, Str. Feath. 1878, vii. p. 90 ; Cripps, t. c. p. 306 ; 



Hume, ibid. 1879 (B. of Malay Penin.), p. 70 ; id. t. c. (List. Ind. Birds), p. 113. 

 Das rothgeschwanzte Wasserhuhn, Forster; Red-tailed Gallinule, Kelaart. Rurok-Burok, 



Borneo (Mottley) ; Kaloo-givet,' Arrakan ; Roa Roa, Malay; Eri-Romlo, Java (Blyth); 



Mercs, Celebes (Meyer) ; Lawak, Dahak, Hind. ; Roli-kodi, Telugu ; Kureyn of the 



Gonds; Kurayi, Sindh (Jerdon); Tannir koli, Ceylonese Tamils ; also Kanung-koli. 

 Korowaka, Sinhalese, from its call. 



Adult male end female. Length 12'0 inches ; wing 6'1 to 6-2 ; tail 2-4 ; tarsus 2-1 to 2-25 ; bare tibia 1*0 ; mid toe 

 and claw 2-5 to 2*6 ; bill to gape 1-5. 



Iris varying from brown to brownish red ; bill green, culmen dark, and the shield or base of culmen red ; tibia, 

 knees, and toes yellowish olivaceous, the tarsus washed with olive-brown ; claws olive-brown. 



Head, upper surface, sides of chest and breast, wings, and tail deep slaty olive-green, passing somewhat into rusty olive 

 on the rumj), and suffused with a slaty hue on the sides of the chest and breast : forehead, face, fore neck, down 

 the centre of chest and breast white, passing over the eye, and separated by a black border from the olive-green, 

 which border is variable in width and blends into the upper colours ; 1st primary with a white edge : sides of 

 rump, tibia-coverts, and under tail-coverts light chestnut, fading into rufescent on the abdomen ; thighs rufes- 

 cent white in front and olive-brown behind. 



The width of the white frontal band depends on age ; in fully adult birds it is about 0-35 inch in breadth. A 

 specimen in abraded plumage in my collection has the feathers of the back tipped with grey ; and Mr. Holdsworth 

 calls attention to a similar specimen. 



