GALLINULA ELEGANS. 
moderately slender ;* wings rounded, and when folded, reaching to the com- 
mencement of the last third of the tail ; the third, fourth and fifth of equal 
length, and the longest ; the sixth and seventh are slightly shorter, the 
second is about half an inch shorter than the longest quills, and nearly equal 
with the ninth, the first three quarters of an inch shorter than the second. 
Tail slightly graduated, pointed, and composed of regularly formed feathers, 
the webs not at all decomposed. Thighs covered with feathers almost to the 
knee joints ; tarsi moderately robust, in front with a single row of large plates, 
behind with two rows of rather irregularly formed scales; middle toe in- 
ternally has a well-marked membranous edging. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Inches. Lines. 
Length from the tip of the bill to the 
end of the tail 6 0 
of the bill, to the angle of the 
mouth 0 & 
of the wings when folded 3 6 
of the tail l c 
Inches. Lines* 
Length of the tarsus j () 
the outer toe o 10 
the middle toe 1 o 
the inner toe o 9 
the hinder toe 0 31 
I had long been in possession of specimens of Gallinula dimidiata and Gallinula Jardinii, 
before I obtained a specimen of the present species; and it was not until I procured it that 
I was induced to sink the subgenus which I had characterised to receive the two first-named 
species. The characters of the subgenus were derived principally from the form which the 
tail exhibited in both species, and from the peculiarity of the texture of its feathers, though 
other minor peculiarities were not overlooked. Upon procuring Gallinula elegans, however* I 
found it possessed all the characters of my subgenus, with the exception of those derived 
from the tail, and that it differed in no essential point from those for which the new division 
had been established, except in having the tail feathers undecomposed and placed horizontally : 
the three species are therefore here figured, as in my opinion all appertaining to the same 
group. 
Gallinula elegans is a rare bird in South Africa, and comparatively but few individuals have 
yet been obtained. All the specimens I have seen were procured near the south-east coast, in 
the direction of Port Natal, and were killed upon or near to the margin of stagnant waters, 
which were densely fringed with reeds or strong rushes, among the one or other of which 
they were discovered flitting to and fro in quest of food. 
* The bill iu this species is not uniform as to length ; in some individuals I have seen it much shorter 
than it is in the specimen here figured, much deeper at the base, and when viewed laterally, exhibiting 
more of a triangular form. The naturalist, who is not a slave to theory, will soon find that if he depend 
either upon the forms or measurements of individual organs for his specific characters, ho will, in time, 
have to sink many of his species ; both, however, are useful as auxiliary characters. 
