GALLICREX CINEREA. 



(THE WATERCOCK.) 



Fulica cinerea, Gm. ed. Syst. Nat. i. p. 702 (1788). 



Gallinula cristata, Lath. Ind. Om. ii. p. 773 (1790) ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 135 



(1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 268; Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, 



Ralli, p. 39 (1865). 

 Gallinula lugubris, Hors£ Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 195, d, Java (1821). 

 Gallinula gularis, Horsf. I.e. ? . 



Rallus rufescens, Vieill. Jerdon, Madras J. L. & Sc. xii. p. 205 (1840). 

 Gallicrex cristatus (Lath.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 283 (1849); Jerdon, B. of Ind. 



hi. p. 716 (1864) ; Hoklsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 475 ; Blanford, Str. Feath. 1877, p. 247. 

 Gallicrex cristata (Lath.), Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 171 ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 414 ; Adam, 



Str. Feath. 1873, p. 397 ; Salvadori, Ucc. di. Bom. p. 340 (1874) ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, 



p. 31, et 1875, p. 403 ; Swinhoe, ibid. 1875, p. 134 ; Sharpe, ibid. 1879, p. 271. 

 Gallicrex cinereus (Gm.), Hume, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 300 ; id. Nests and Eggs, hi. p. 596 



(1875) ; Hume & Oates, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 187 ; Hume & Davison, Str. Feath. 1878, 



p. 466 (B. of Tenass.) ; Ball, ibid. vii. p. 229 ; Cripps, t. c. p. 305 ; Hume, ibid. 1879, 



pp. 70, 113. 

 Gallicrex cinerea (Gm.), Walden, Trans. Zool. Soc. 1875, ix. p. 229 ; Oates, Str. Feath. 



1877, p. 165 ; David & Oustalet, Ois. de la Chine, p. 484 (1877). 

 Crested Gallinule, Lath. ; Cock of the Heeds (Swinhoe) ; " Paddy-fowl" Sportsmen in Ceylon. 



Kora, Hind., also Kongra (Jerdon) ; Bontod Bureng, Java (Blyth) ; Ilung-kwan, lit. 



" Bed Cap," Chinese. 

 Kittala, Sinhalese in North ; Willi-kuhulu, in South ; Tannirkoli, Tamil. 



Adult male (India : Brit. Museum). Wing 8 - 3 inches ; tail 3 - 3 ; tarsus 2 - 6 ; middle toe 2-8, its claw (straight) 0"5 ; 



hind toe 1*3 : bill to gape l - 36. 

 " Length 16-75 inches, Tenasserim " (Davison) ; " 17 - 0, Upper Pegu" (Oates). 



" Iris hazel-brown ; eyelids smoky plumbeous ; frontal shield and base of upper mandible deep dull red ; horn 

 pinkish ; the bill, with the above exception, is yellow, there being a red spot at the base of the lower mandible; 

 inside of mouth flesh-colour ; legs plumbeous green ; claws horny" (Oates). 



In dried specimens the horn and shield appear dull red. The former rises up behind the shield, is pointed at the 

 apes, and measures sometimes an inch in length. 



Breeding-plumage (Ainoy : May). Head, neck, throat, and underparts dull black ; the feathers of the head, hind 

 neck, and back with bluish-ashy margins, and those of the throat and under surface tipped with ashy grey ; wings 

 brown, the lesser coverts edged like the back, and the tertials and greater coverts edged with fulvous or yellowish 

 brown ; back and rump brown, with tawny edgings to the feathers ; edge of the wing, outer web of first primary, 

 and first winglet-feathers whitish ; tail brown, the feathers edged similarly to the tertials ; under tail-coverts buff- 

 white, barred with blackish ; under wing-coverts brown, edged with yellowish white ; frontal plate and fleshy 

 crest red. 



Indian examples correspond with the above ; but those in the national collection which I have examined are not in 



such perfect plumage, and I have therefore described a Chinese example. 

 An example in the national collection from Manilla shows the changing of the plumage from the breeding to the 



non-breeding dress, which is that of the female. The neck and under surface are whitish, barred with narrow 



