Birds of Celebes: Kallidae. 
713 
The Isabelline Water-hen of Celebes is a very distinct species, easily 
distinguished from its nearest allies by the isabelline, or, more properly speaking, 
rufous cinnamon tint of its plumage, which is intensified into greyish olive-brown 
on the upper surface. Dr. E.. B. Sharpe has created for it the peculiar genus 
Oenolimnas^ but there is nothing to distinguish it structurally from Amaurornis 
oUvacea of the Philippines, the type of the genus Amaurornis, with which genus 
Salvadori (c 1), Brilggemann (b 4), and Wilh. Blasius (1) have pointed out 
its affinities. A.phoenicura does not stand so high on its legs as A. isabellina, 
the tarsus being comparatively shorter; this is also the case, though not to a 
very appreciable extent , in A. mohiccana. The white breast and face of the 
former, and the plumbeous colour of these parts in A. moluccana distinguish them 
at once from the present species, though their affinity with it is shown by the 
fianks and under tail-coverts, which are of a similar cinnamon tint in all three. 
Many Rails, however, which are structurally very different, correspond closely 
in coloration, so that, in arranging the system in this group, colour cannot be 
safely referred to as a guide to the nearest affinities. 
Nothing is known of the habits of A. isabeUina, which is a rather rare species 
in European collections and, hence, perhaps in its native island, from the North 
and West only of which it is known. 
GENUS GALLINULA Briss. 
In the Moor-hen the anterior toes are much longer than the tarsus , the 
hallux much longer than the first phalanx of the inner toe, the forehead is 
covered with a shield or flattened comb, and the bill is but little longer than 
the cranium and about four times as long as it is high across the nostril. The 
presence of the frontal shield serves to distinguish it from the other Rails 
occurring in Celebes except from Porphyrio, in which the stout bill is about 
twice as long as it is high, and Fulica, which has the toes lobated. Almost 
cosmopolitan 
307. GALLINULA FKONTATA Wall. 
Red-legged Moor-hen. 
Plate XLIII. 
a. Gallinula haematopus [Temm. MS. in Leyden Mus.] (1) Schl., Mus. P.-B., Ralli, 1865, 
44; (2) Rosenb., Malay. Archip. 1878, 278; (3) Dresser, B. Europe VII, 317 
(1879); (4) Legge, B. Ceylon 1880, 782; (5) Rosenb., Zool. Garten 1881, 167; (6) 
Newton, Diet. B. 1894, 590. 
Gallinula frontata (1) Wall., P. Z. S. 1863, 35, 487; (2) Wald., Tr. Z. S. 1872, VDI, 93; 
(3) Salvad., Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. 1875, VII, 680; (4) Briigg., Abh. Ver. Bremen 
1876, V, 90; (5) Meyer, Ibis 1879, 142; (6) Salvad., Orn. Pap. 1882, HI, 279; 
Agg. 179 (1891); (7) W. Bias., J. f. 0. 1883, 139; (8) id., ib. 1884, 215, 219; (9) 
Kutter, t. c. 225; (10) Guillem., P. Z. S. 1885, 560; (11) W. Bias,, Ztschr. ges. 
Meyer k Wigleswortli, Birds of Celebes (Dec. 30th 1807). 90 
