GALLINULA RUFICRISSA, Gould. 
Rufous-vented G allin ule. 
Gallinula ruficrissa, Gould in Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., vol. iv. p. 110. 
For a knowledge of the existence of this new species of Gallinule I am indebted to Mr. F. G. Waterhouse, 
Curator of the Museum of the South Australian Institute at Adelaide, South Australia, who, in a note ac- 
companying the specimen from which my figure was taken, states that it was obtained from Mr. Rainbird, a 
collector, who shot it on the Cape River, in Queensland. Mr. Waterhouse was under the impression that 
it was a new species of Tribonyoo , but it appears to me to be more nearly allied to the genus Gallinula. 
With the assistance of Mr. G. R. Gray I have carefully compared it with all the members of the last-men- 
tioned genus in the British Museum, also with the descriptions of all the known species; and we cannot find 
one with which it can he considered identical. I have therefore characterized it as new. Its nearest ally 
appears to be the Gallinula olimcea of Meyen, from Manilla (vide Nova Acta, 1834, p. 109, t. 20); but that 
bird is of larger size, and is of still greater disproportion in the length of its legs. 
It gives me great pleasure to figure this species so soon after its discovery, since it may incite collectors 
to obtain additional specimens and some information respecting its habits and economy, of which at present 
nothing is known. 
The features which distinguish the Gallinula ruficrissa from the typical members of the genus are the 
absence of white spots on the Hanks, and the uniform pale rufous colouring of the vent and under tail- 
coverts ; it is this latter character that allies it to the G. olimcea , in which the same parts are similarly 
coloured, while in the other Gallinules they are black and white ; in my opinion the Gallinula phoenicura 
perhaps the Gallinula Akool , of India, are also nearly allied to it. 
Professor Reichenbach has instituted the genus Amaurornis for the reception of the G. olimcea, with 
which the late Prince Bonaparte associates the G. femoralis of Tschudi ; it is for ornithologists to decide 
upon the propriety of such a separation. 
Head, all the upper surface, wings, and tail brownish olive ; sides of the face, neck, breast, and under 
surface deep olive-grey ; vent and under tail-coverts pale rusty red ; bill greenish yellow, with a mark of red 
on the base of the culmen ; legs and feet greenish yellow. 
The figures in the accompanying Plate, both drawn from the same specimen, are of the natural size. 
