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FAMILY XXXIIL— RALLINiE. RAILS, 



Bill moderately stout, or slender, short or elongated, compressed, with the 

 point narrow, but obtuse. Head small, oblong, compressed; neck of mode- 

 rate length; body large, much compressed. Feet large; tibia bare at the 

 lower part; tarsus stout, compressed, with very broad anterior scutella; toes 

 very long, scutellate, marginate; hind toe rather short. Claws long, little 

 arched, compressed, acute. Plumage blended, but stiffish. Wings short, 

 convex, rounded; tail very short, rounded. Tongue slender, channelled 

 above, tapering to a bristly point; oesophagus long, rather narrow; proven- 

 triculus bulbiform; stomach roundish, compressed, very muscular, with the 

 lateral and inferior muscles prominent, the epithelium dense, with two flattish 

 grinding surfaces; intestine long, of moderate width; coeca long, narrowed 

 toward the base; cloaca globular. Trachea simple, flattened, with a pair of 

 slender inferior laryngeal muscles. Nest bulky, and rudely constructed, on 

 the ground, or supported by grass, or on trees. Eggs numerous^ oblong, 

 Young covered with stiffish black down. 



Genus I.— GALLINULA, Briss. GALLINULE, 



Bill as long as the head, nearly straight, stout, deep, compressed, tapering; 

 upper mandible with a soft ovate or oblong tumid plate at the base, extending 

 over the forehead, the dorsal line behind this slightly declinate, toward the 

 tip arcuate, the ridge gradually narrowed to the middle, then slightly 

 enlarged, the sides nearly erect, the edges sharp, the notches obsolete, the 

 tip rather obtuse; nasal sinus extending nearly to the middle; lower mandible 

 with the angle rather long and narrow, the dorsal line ascending, nearly 

 straight, the sides nearly erect, the tip narrow. Nostrils submedial, lateral, 

 oblong, direct. Head small, oblong, compressed; neck of moderate length; 

 body large, much compressed. Feet large; tibia bare at the lower part; tarsus 

 stout, of moderate length, compressed, with very broad anterior scutelia; 

 hind toe rather small and slender; anterior toes very long, fourth longer than 

 second, third considerably longer, all scutellate. Claws very long, slender, 



