300 
LITTLE GALLINULE. 
was shot near Warkworth, in the autumn of 1821 ; the other was killed 
on the 1st of February 1823, near Twizell, and is placed in my collec- 
tion. This bird, although destitute of the peculiar markings about the 
head and neck that distinguish the male in his adult state, or rather 
perhaps at a particular season, proved, however, to be of that sex, by 
the unerring test of dissection.” 
“In the specimen alluded to,” he adds, “ the stomach was distended with 
a mass of various grasses and the stems of clover, intermixed with the 
seeds of cow-parsnip,(^crac^cwm5joonc?^/^^^^m), and of other umbelliferous 
plants. No gravel, or other hard substance, generally used by birds pos- 
sessing strong muscular stomachs or gizzards, was contained in it ; from 
which it appears that Montagu’s views are correct, ‘ and that the gastric 
juice alone is sujSficiently powerful, without attrition, to effect the com- 
plete dissolution of the food in many herbivorous or granivorous birds. 
The Little Bustard will also feed eagerly upon grain, and it is said to 
devour worms and insects.” 
It lays its eggs upon the bare ground, under cover of the herbage, or 
low plants : such as the cistus, &c., growing upon the plains it usually 
frequents. When suddenly disturbed, this bird immediately takes wing, 
flying with considerable strength and velocity, from fifty to a hundred 
yards, raised but little above the surface of the ground, and upon 
alighting, runs off with great swiftness, by this mode generally eluding 
pursuit.* 
LITTLE EGRET. — A name for the Egret. 
LITTLE GALLINULE {Gallinula minuta, Montagu.) 
Gallinula minuta, Mont. — Ib. Supp. with a fig. — Kallus pusillus, Pallas, Reise, 
3. p. 700. No. 30 Rallus parvus, Scopoli. Ann. — Gallinella palustie, Storia 
degli Uccell. 5. p. 482 Little Gallinule, Flem. Br. Anim. p. 99.— Linn. Trans. 
14. p. 583. 
We are indebted to Mr. Tucker for this very interesting little bird. 
The weight is two ounces ; length seven inches and three quarters. 
The bill is five-eighths of an inch long, of a bright green colour ; the 
upper part of the head dusky brown ; the cheeks pale brown ; over 
each eye cinereous ; the chin and throat white, shaded into a cream 
colour on the upper part of the neck before ; the lower part of the 
neck, breast, sides, and greater part of the body beneath, plain fawn 
colour; the lower belly, thighs, and vent, olive brown, spotted with 
white, and slightly barred with paler brown ; the back and sides of the 
neck pale olivaceous brown ; back and scapulars black, deeply margined 
with the same colour as the last, the inner margins very pale, similar to 
* See Supplement to Orn. Diet. Art. little Bustard. 
