THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
the outer webs ; tail-feathers black, margined with olive-brown ; feathers of the 
head and hind-neck black margined with chestnut ; forehead, eyebrow, and sides of 
neck bright chestnut ; cheeks, throat, and breast grey with a brownish tinge, 
becoming whitish on the chin ; remainder of the under-surface, including the sides 
of the body black, barred with white, not so sharply defined on the thighs ; vent and 
under tail-coverts tinged with sandy-buff ; axillaries and under wing-coverts blackish, 
slightly tipped with white ; “ Bill brownish-red ; feet flesh-colour, becoming darker 
about the toes ; iris hazel” (J. Gould). Total length, 210 mm. ; culmen, 33 ; wing, 
103 ; tail, 45 ; tarsus, 29. 
j4.(iult fcYHdlc. Similar to the adult male, but differs in being smaller and in having the 
breast almost pure grey. Total length, 203 mm. ; culmen, 33 ; wing, 93 ; tail, 41 ; 
tarsus, 26. 
Immdture female. Differs from the adult female in having a darker appearance ; the 
absence of chestnut on the head, hind-neck, and sides of neck ; fore-neck and sides 
of neck blackish, like the under-surface of body, showing only traces of white cross-bars 
on the lower flanks ; throat pale grey like the adult ; also paler on the middle of the 
abdomen. 
Nestling covered with black, silky down. 
N est. “ Composed of fine grass and rushes, and situated in a swamp amongst thick rushes, 
which are usually drawn together above, so as to form a covering. There is a staging 
or landing leading to the nest, which is variously placed from six inches to three feet 
above the water ” (Campbell). 
Eggs. Clutch, four to six ; ground-colour pale stone, sparingly spotted with pinkish- brown 
spots, and more thickly with lavender-grey ones. Axis, 36 — 37 mm. ; diameter 
28—29. 
Breeding Season. October to December (Ramsay). 
In the Paris Museum Cuvier labelled a species of Rail, Rallus pectoralis. It 
was the custom in those days to quote manuscript names as if they were 
valid, and therefore Lesson, in the Traite d’Orn., p. 536 (1831), quoted Rallus 
pectoralis Cuv., as if a bird had been described under that name. Unfortu- 
nately, Gould used this name (Birds Austr., VI., PI. 76, 1848) for the 
Australian form of Eulaheornis philippensis, and in this connection it was 
for many years commonly accepted. 
In the Revue et Mag. Zook, 1851, p. 276, Pucheran, from an examination 
of the specimen so labelled by Cuvier in the Paris Museum, pointed out that 
the name was afifixed to the bird described by Swainson as Rallus hrachipus and 
lewini, in 1837. As a result, the name pectoralis was rejected as applied to 
the Australian Eulaheornis philippensis. 
Upon looking into the matter, I found that when Pucheran reviewed this 
species, he indicated that very probably the same bird had been described 
by Temminck under the same specific name, and this is actually the case. 
Curiously aU reference to Temminck’s Rallus pectoralis is omitted from the 
Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXIII. Temminck’s name was published with 
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