Order RALLIFORMES 
No. 61. 
Family RALLIDM. 
TRIBONYX VENTRALIS. 
BLACK-TAILED NATIVE HEN. 
(Plate 56.) 
Galllmula VENTRALIS Gould, P.Z.S., p. 85 (1836), Swan River, Western Australia. 
Oallinula ventralis Gould, P.Z.S., p. 85 (1836). 
Trihonyx ventralis Gould, in Gray’s Joum. Disc. Austr., II., p. 420 (1841) ; id., B. Austr., 
VI., PI. 72 (1848) ; Sturt, Narr. Exp. Oentr. Austr., App., p. 53 (1849) ; Gould, Handb. 
B. Austr., II., p. 325 (1865) ; Ramsay, P.L.S., N.S.W., I., p. 193 (1876) ; id., ib., 
II., p. 199 (1877) ; id., ib., VII., p. 56 (1882) ; id.. Tab. List Austr. B., p. 21 
(1888) ; North, Austr. Mus. Cat., No. 12, p. 324 (1889) ; Keartland, B. Melbourne 
Dist., p. 117 (1900). 
Tribonix ventralis Bonaparte, Oompt. Rend., XLIII., p. 600 (1856). 
Microtribonyx ventralis Sharpe, Bull. B.O.O., I., p. xxix. (1893) ; id.. Cat. B. Brit. Mus., 
XXIII., p. 165 (1894) ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. B., p. 752 (1901) ; Oates, 
Cat. Birds’ Eggs Brit. Mus., I., p. 122 (1901) ; Nicholls, Emu, V., p. 81 (1905) ; Hall, 
Key B. Austr., p. 77 (1906) ; Bemey, Emu, VI., p. 108 (1907) ; Ingram, Ibis, p. 391 
(1907) ; Mathews, Handl. B. Austral., p. 13 (1908) ; Ogilvie -Grant, Ibis, p. 187 (1910). 
Distribution. Australia generally. 
Adult ^nale. Olive-grey above, including the head, hind-neck, sides of neck, back and 
upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts olive-bro^vn ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts and 
quills blackish, olive-brown on the outer webs ; outer web of first primary edged with 
white ; tail-feathers black, fringed with ohve-brown on the outer webs ; chin, lores and 
cheeks black ; lower throat, fore-neck and breast dark slate-grey, which extends 
on to the sides of the body ; middle of abdomen and under tail-coverts black, axillaries 
and lower flanks brown ; long flank-plumes black with white pear-shaped spots at 
the tips ; under wing-coverts dusky with subterminal black bars and white tips ; 
“ Bill apple-green, base of lower mandible orange ; iris deep yellow ; tarsi and feet 
coral pink ” (T. Carter). Total length, 340 ; culmen, including frontal shield, 32 ; 
■wing, 221 ; tail, 85 ; tarsus, 56. 
Adult female. Very similar to the adult male but smaller, and differs in having the flank- 
plumes grey instead of black, and the wing -coverts paler. Total length, 309 mm. ; 
culmen, including frontal shield, 28 ; wing, 194 ; tail, 73 ; tarsus, 59. 
Nest. “ Open, constructed of grass, and placed on the ground among bushes such as 
polygonums, etc., in a swampy situation ” (Campbell). 
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