Order RALLIFORMES 
No. 60. 
Family RALLIDJ^. 
TRIBONYX MORTIERI. 
NATIVE HEN. 
(Plate 55.) 
Tribonyx MORTIERI Du Bus, BuU. Acad. Roy. Brux,, VII., p. 214 (plate) (1840), Tasmania. 
Trihonyx mortieri Du Bus, Bull. Acad. Roy. Brux., VII., p. 214 (1840) ; Gk)uld, B. Austr. ; 
VI., PL 71 (1848) ; id., Handb. B. Austr., II., p. 324 (1865) ; Ramsay, P.L.S., N.S.W., 
I., p.l93 (1876) ; id., ib., II., p. 199 (1877) ; id., ib., p. 209 (1877) ; id.. Tab. List Austr. 
B., p. 21 (1888) ; North, Austr. Mus. Cat., No. 12, p. 324 (1889) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit, 
Mus., XXIII., p. 164 (1894) ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. B., p. 752 (1901) ; 
Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs Brit. Mus., I., p. 122 (1901) ; Littler, Emu, III., p. 215 (1904) ; 
Hall, Key B. Austr., p. 77 (1899-1906) ; Mathews, Handl. B, Austral., p. 13 (1908) ; 
Littler, Handb. B. Tasmania, p. 115 (1910). 
Brachyptrallus ralloides La Fresnaye, Rev. ZooL, p. 232 (1840). 
Tribonix mortieri Bonaparte, Compt. Rend., XLIII., p. 600 (1856). 
Tribonyx gouldi Sclater, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. (3), XX., p. 123 (1867) ; Ramsay, P.L.S., 
N.S.W., II., p. 209 (1877). 
Tribonyx “ rallioides ” Gray, Handl. Gen. Sp. Birds, B.M., III., p, 66 (1871). 
Distribution. Tasmania.* 
Adult male. General colour above warm brown, including the head, hind-neck, back, upper 
tail-coverts, scapulars and innermost secondaries ; lesser wing-coverts slate -grey ; 
bastard-wing black, with pale outer webs and white tips ; quills black with pale 
edges, the two outer primaries fringed with white at the tips ; tail-feathers black, with 
brown on the outer webs ; lores and feathers behind the eye and forepart of cheeks 
brown, Hke the head, but shghtly paler ; throat, fore-neck and breast slate-colour ; 
a tuft of black feathers, with broad white tips, on the sides of the body, giving the 
appearance of a lateral white patch ; lower flanks and thighs grey, minutely tipped with 
white ; middle of abdomen black, with minute white tips to the feathers ; under tail- 
coverts intense black ; under vong-coverts blackish, tipped with white ; “ Bill 
yellowish-green ; iris ruby ; tarsi and feet yellowish ” (Frank M. Littler). Total 
length, 509 mm. ; culmen, including frontal shield, 40 ; wing, 187 ; tail, 95 ; tarsus, 78. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male, but very slightly smaller. Total length, 502 mm ; 
culmen, 39 ; wing, 185 ; tail, 95 ; tarsus, 77. 
Immature male. Is distinguished from the adult in being paler brown on the head, grey on 
the hind-neck and mantle, and having the lower back washed with grey. The chief 
* The occurrence of this bird in South Australia is not authentic. 
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