EALLID^ FDLIOA 269 



Description. Adult. — General colour above aa oily olive green 

 becoming dusky on tbe rump and upper tail-coverts ; primaries 

 dusky, the outer one edged with dirty white, the others with bluish- 

 green ; head blackish with a purple gloss ; the feathers of the under 

 surface of the body purplish tipped with pale fulvous, giving a 

 somewhat mottled appearance to that part, chin and centre of 

 breast and abdomen paler, almost pure white ; under tail-coverts 

 white, axillaries black. 



Iris red, bill reddish-brown, frontal shield dusky, legs crimson- 

 red. 



Length about lO'O ; wing 6'75 ; tail 2-25 ; tarsus 2-05 ; middle toe 

 2-0 ; culmen 2-45. 



A young bird has the crown of the head reddish-brown, the 

 feathers of the back and wing-coverts margined with dark ochra- 

 ceous ; the sides of the head and lower surface are deep ochraceous 

 buff, becoming darker on the flanks and under tail-coverts, and 

 paler on the chin and centre of the breast and abdomen. 



Distribution. — Allen's Eeed Hen is found throughout the greater 

 part of Africa (including Madagascar), from Senegal and Abyssinia 

 southwards ; it has occasionally even been met with in southern 

 Europe. It is a very rare bird in South Africa, and has only been 

 once found south of the Vaal River ;* the following are the recorded 

 occurrences : Cape Colony — Knysna, July (Marais) ; Transvaal — 

 Hex Eiver near Rustenburg, December (Lucas) ; Bechuanaland — 

 Tebra country, near Lake Ngami, April (Eriksson in S. A. Mus.) ; 

 Rhodesia — Gwibi River, near Salisbury, December (Marshall) ; 

 German South-west Africa — Ondonga, February (Andersson) ; Por- 

 tuguese East Africa — Tete (Peters). 



Genus X. FULICA. 



Type. 

 Fulica, Smsow, Om. vi, p. 23 (1760) F. atra. 



Bill stout and somewhat compressed, culmen with a large frontal 

 shield about two-thirds of the length of the middle toe ; nostrils elon- 

 gated ovals ; wings short and rounded, the first primary about as 

 long as the secondaries ; tarsus markedly shorter than the middle 

 toe without claw, provided posteriorly with a membranous ridge or 



* Mr. J. G. Brown informs me that this bird is rare near Port Elizabeth ; 

 while the South African Museum has recently received an example shot near 

 Towns River Station, in August last, by Dr. A. H. B. Kirkman. 



