GALLINULA CHLOROPUS. 
(THE COMMON WATERHEN.) 
Fulica chloropus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 258 (1766). 
Gallinula chloropus (L.), Lath. Inch Orn. p. 770 (1790) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 
p. 286 (1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 268 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. 
iii p _ 718 (1864); Gould, B. of Europe, pi. 342 (1837); Schlegel, Mus. P.-B. Balli, 
p. 45 (1865) ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 414 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 475 ; Saunders, 
Ibis, 1871, p. 225 ; Shelley, B. of Egypt, p. 275 (1872) ; Von Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. 
ii. p. 1225 (1873); Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 250; Adam, t.c. p. 398; Irby, B. of 
Gibraltar, p. 144 (1875); Hume, Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 597 (1875); Walden, Trans. 
Z. S. 1875, ix. p. 228 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 187 ; Butler & Hume, ibid. 1876, 
p. 20 ; Scully, t. c. p. 192 ; Butler, ibid. 1877, p. 224 ; Blakiston & Pryer, Ibis, 1878, 
p. 225; Davison & Hume, Str. Feath. 1878 (B. of Tenass.), p. 466; Ball, ibid. vii. 
p. 229 ; Cripps, t. c. p. 306 ; Hume, ibid. 1879 (List of Ind. B.), p. 113 ; Dresser, B. of 
Eur. pt. 74 (1879). 
Gallinula akool, Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 1844-45, xiii. no. 332. 
Gallinula pardfrons, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1843, xii. p. 180. 
Gallinula burned, Blyth, J. A. S. 1844, xiii. p. 736. 
La Poule d’eau, Buffon; Moorhen, commonly in England; Gallinha de agua, Portuguese; 
Waterhoentje, Dutch. I)i djadj el ma, Arabic (Yon Heuglin) ; Zelga-lcahal, Moorish 
(Favier, fide Irby) ; Kliodan Kharonali , Turki (Scully) ; Godhan, Hind. ; Jumbu-kodi, 
Boli-kodi, Telugu; Jal-murghi, Hind. ; JDakak paira, Bengal. (Jerdon) ; Ban, Japan. 
AcMt mcde and f ema le. Length (Turkestan) “ 12-2 to 12-8 inches ” (Scully) ; wing 6-5 to 7-3 ; tail 3-0 to 3-1 ; tarsus 1-8 
to 2-1 • middle toe 2-2 to 2-3, its claw 0-45 ; bill to gape 1-05 to 1-1, at front, from casque to tip, 1-4. The 
larger measurements refer to females. These dimensions, except the “ length,” are from a series of examples in 
the British Museum. An example in the Poole collection, procured by Layard in Ceylon, measures in the 
wing Q'5. 
Dr. Scully’s Turkestan measurements for wing in adults are 6-55 to 6-9, weight 6-2 to 64 oz. 
A fine male in my own collection from Wales measured in the flesh : — Length 13-5 inches ; wing 7-2, expanse 22-5 ; 
tail 34 ; tarsus 24 ; middle toe without claw 2-5, claw (straight) 0-6 ; bill to gape 1-25, at front from casque 1*6. 
Iris red, with a slaty external edge ; bill and casque, to beyond nostril, cherry -red, apical third (but more on the lower 
than the upper mandible) lemon-yellow ; legs and feet yellowish green, front of the tarsus yellower than the rest ; 
above the knee an orange-red garter, which varies in extent and brightness. 
Head and neck slaty black (with an olive gloss in a strong light), passing into slaty on the lower part of the hind neck, 
and on the chest, breast, and upper flanks, the breast being paler than the rest of the fore parts ; back, scapulars, 
'and wing-coverts duskv brownish olive, darkening into rusty brown on the tertials and upper tail-coverts ; winglet 
primaries and secondaries blackish slate; margin of the first quill and of the outer wiuglet-feather, the edge of 
the metacarpal coverts and of the wing from the shoulder to the winglet white ; tail slaty black ; a broad st ripe 
of white on the upper webs of the flank-feathers ; abdomen, vent, and thighs slaty bluish, the feathers fringed 
with white ; central under tail-covert feathers coal-black, the lateral plumes (which are longer than the black 
central ones') pure white ; under wing brownish blade, the feathers faintly tipped with white. 
The white stripes on the flanks vary in individuals as regards size and number ; and the outer webs of the 1st quill and 
winglet-feather are scarcely white in some. 
Yount chick Legs dark grey; iris grejflsh brown; bill red. Dark sooty brown, with white tips to the feathers of 
the chin. 
5 H 2 
