Order RALL1F0RME8 
No. 56. 
Family RALLIDM. 
PORZANA FLUMINEA. 
AUSTEALIAN SPOTTED CRAKE. 
(Plate 51.) 
PoBZANA FLUMINEA Gould, P.Z.S., p. 139 (1842), New South Wales. 
Porzarui flumivm Gould, P.Z.S., p. 139 (1842) ; id., B. Austr., VI., PI. 79 (1848) ; id., Handb. 
B. Austr., II., p. 339 (1865) ; Ramsay, P.L.S., N.S.W., I., p. 193 (1876) ; id., P.L.S., 
N.S.W., n., p. 199 (1877) ; id.. Tab. List Austr. B., p. 21 (1888) ; Campbell, Viet. 
Nat., V., p. 162 (1889) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., XXIII., p. 101 (1894) ; Morgan, 
Trans. Roy. Soc. South Austr., XXIII., p. 193 (1898) ; North, B. County Cumb., 
p. 108 (1898) ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. B., p. 745 (1901) ; HaU, Key B. 
Austr., p. 77 (1899-1906) ; Campbell, Emu, V., p. 196 (1906) ; Bemey, Emu, VI., 
p. 108 (1907) ; Mathews, Handl. B. Austral., p. 12 (1908) ; Littler, Handb. B. Tasmania 
p. 113 (1910). 
Ortygomeira fluminea Gray, List Spec, in Brit. Mus., pt. III., p. 118 (1844). 
Rallus novce-hollandioB Pucheran, Rev. Mag. Zool., p. 278 (1851). 
Porzana npvce-hollandicB Bonaparte, Compt. Rend., XLIII., p. 599 (1856). 
Ortygomeira novce-hollandicB Gray, Handl. Gen. Sp. Birds, B.M., III., p. 62 (1871). 
Distribution. Queensland ; New South Wales ; Victoria ; Tasmania ; South Australia. 
Adult male. General colour above, olive-brown, the feathers centred with black mostly con- 
cealed, and thickly spotted with white on the mantle and streaked with white on the 
lower-back and rump ; all the white markings edged with a narrow line of black ; 
upper tail-coverts also olive-brown, with concealed black centres to the feathers, which 
have small white spots on either web ; wing-coverts for the most part uniform ohve- 
brown,the median- and greater-coverts with white spots, each of which is margined with 
black ; quills brown, the first primary with a few hnear spots of white on the outer 
web, which is less indicated on the others ; inner secondaries spotted with white, the 
innermost blackish dovui the centre and more profusely spotted with white, like the 
adjoining greater- coverts ; taU-feathers olive-brown, centred with black and spotted or 
edged with white ; crowm of head like the back, the white spots being very small and 
nearly obsolete on the mantle ; base of forehead, sides of crown, sides of face and ear- 
coverts leaden-grey, the latter washed with olive-brown, and speckled with tiny white 
spots ; lores black ; feathers in front of the eye, as well as the forepart of the cheeks, grey ; 
throat, foreneck and entire breast leaden-grey ; centre of abdomen whitish, barred with 
grey ; under tail-coverts black, lateral ones white ; sides of body and flanks distinctly 
barred with white and black, the black bars being somewhat the broader ; axillaries 
blackish, barred with white, and resembling the flanks ; under wing-coverts dusky 
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