Book III. O^^lT HO LOfTi 3 iy 



edges of the two middle feathers are red. The Legs and .Feet are of a dark fiefh-co- 

 lour : The Legs ftrong : The Toes, as in the reft of this kind, very long, divided 

 from the very rife, except that the outer Toe is joyned to the middle by a membrane 

 at the bottom. The Claws are of the fame colour with the Toes. 



It had a great, long, crooked Gall-bladder, and a large Gall-pore befides: Long 

 blind'guts, filled with Excrements 5 a mufculous Stomach, in which we found a (hell- 

 Snail. 



It runs very fwiftly, and hides it felf about the banks of clivers : It walks rather 

 than fwims in the water. It flies with its feet hanging down. It is called at Venice^ 

 Forz>ane,ot: Porzana, a name common to other Water-hens zKo. 



«• v. 



* The Velvet Runner : Gallinula Serica Gefneri. *Aldrov. Perchance *Tom 3 . 



the fame with the precedent. P-47°» 



THis is a remarkable bird -, very handfbmly particoloured of black and red al- 

 moft all the body over, (as far as I remember) except that the Belly is white. 

 And becaufe the black colour in its feathers (nines like Velvet, I thought fit to make 

 and impofe upon it the German name Samethunle. Its Legs are long and dark-colou- 

 red : Its Toes very long, but the . back-toe fhort : Its Bill long. Thus far Gefner, and 

 again in his Epitome ; This Bird may be called Gallina Serica, becaufe in it the black 

 colour fhines like filk. gtume whether this be not the Qrtygometra of Belloniw ? 

 And we truly hitherto have been of that opinion, but then Gefner hath not well 

 defcribed it: Which yet is not at all ftrange, fith (as we fee) hedefcribed it by- 

 memory. 



§• VI. 



A fmall Water-ken, tailed Grinetta in Italy 5 and at Milan Gillerdine : 

 Poliojpus Gallinula minor, Aldrov, 



IT is lefs not only than, the common Water-hen, but than the Rail, but in (hape of 

 body like. Its Legs and Fee) are of the fame, both figure and colour, with the 

 common Water-hens, viz. a fordid green. The Toes very long, divided to the bot- 

 tom : The Bill (horter than either the Rails Or common Morehens, comprefTed or nar- 

 row, fharp-pointed, of a yellow colour^ brighter at the head, darker toward the 

 tip. The upper part of the upper Chap near the Head above the Nofthrils is crufted 

 over with a kind of yellow plaifter. The Head, as in the reft of this kind, is little. 

 The colour of the feathers in the middle of thecrownis darker : From the Bill above 

 the Eyes on each fide is drawn a line of grey or pale a(h-colour: Beneath about the 

 Ears the feathers are of the fame colour with the reft of the body j under the Throat 

 again they are afh-coloured or blue. The Neck, both above and beneath, and all 

 the Breaft are particoloured, viz,, of a middle colour between green, yellow, and 

 dusky, elegantly fprinkled with black fpots. f Mr. Willughby makes the Breaft white 

 or cinereous, , the bottoms of the feathers beinj* black, the Throat black, with white 

 fpots, the Chin of a dark afh-colour without fpots. ] The feathers on the crown of 

 the head have their middle parts black, their edges red: Thofe on the Shoulders and 

 middle of the Back their middle parts about the fhaft black, their fides and tips of a 

 fordid red, their utmoft edges on each fide white* 



The quii-feathers of the Wings are all of a dark brown, with a certain tincture of 

 red.- The covert-feathers red, with tranfverfe waved lines of white at intervals/The 

 lateral parts covered by the Wings,are cloathed with brown feathers, variegated with 

 tranfverfe waved lines of white. The Tail is fhort, conlifting of twelve feathers, of 

 the fame colour with the quils of the Wings, fave that the middlemoft on their lateral 

 edges have fomething of white. But what is efpecially remarkable in the Tail is, that . 

 when fpread it is not plain, as in moft birds, but notably concave. The middle fea- 

 thers are longer than the reft. Moreover,the Wings are very hollow,as in moft Land^- 

 fowl of the Poultry-kind. The Gall is large, the Stomach mufculous : In it we found 

 feeds of Plants. 



This fort of Water-hen we firftfaw and defcribed at Milan, then at Florence^here 

 the Fowlers call it Tordo Gelfemino, unlefs perchance that be a diftinft kind 5 and 



Sf 2 laftly, 



