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Genus GALLINULA. 



Gallinula, Brisson, Orn. vi. p. 3 (1760). 



Fulica apud Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 258 (1766). 



Hydrogallina apud Lacepede, Mem. de l'lnst. iii. p. 518. an ix. (1801). 



Mallus apud Savi, Orn. Tosc. ii. p. 382 (1829). 



Stagnicola apud C. L. Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 704 (1831). 



This genus is represented in the Palsearctic, Ethiopian, Oriental, Australian, Nearctic, and 

 Neotropical Eegions, only one species, however, being found in the Western Palsearctic Region. 



They frequent marshes, ponds, streams, &c. where the cover is dense and they can find ample 

 opportunities for concealment. They are, as a rule, not shy, but are wary, and seek shelter in 

 the dense reed-thickets directly danger threatens. They swim with ease, sitting very lightly on 

 the water, and dive equally well, often remaining concealed under the water with only the bill 

 above the surface to enable them to breathe. They walk with tolerable ease, and climb about 

 amongst the reeds with great facility, and sometimes perch on a stump or the trunk of a tree 

 near the water-side. Their flight is heavy and laboured, unless they have risen to a considerable 

 altitude, when they fly tolerably well. Their call-note is loud, and is frequently uttered at 

 night when they are on the wing. They feed on aquatic insects, worms, snails, &c, as also on 

 vegetable substances, such as seeds, tender shoots, &c. They make a somewhat bulky nest 

 of reeds and grasses, which is placed amongst the aquatic herbage near the water, or rarely on a 

 tree ; and they deposit numerous clay-yellow eggs, marked and blotched with violet-grey and 

 reddish brown. 



Gallinula cldorojpus, the type of the genus, has the bill about as long as the head, moderately 

 stout, compressed, tapering, slightly higher than broad at the base ; frontal shield oblong, tumid ; 

 nostrils linear-oblong, median, submarginal ; wings rather short, concave, rounded, the first quill 

 about equal to the fifth, the second and third longest ; tail soft, short, rounded ; legs large, the 

 lower part of the tibia bare ; tarsus stout, scutellate ; toes very long, slender ; the claws long, 

 slender, compressed, slightly curved, acute. 



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