Oedee GEALL^.] 
[Fam. EALLID^. 
OCYDEOMUS EAELL 
(BROWN WOODHEN.) 
Ocydromus earli. Gray, Ibis, 1862, p. 238. 
Ad. similis 0. yreyi, sed pallidior, et tergi colore minus nigrescente : fascia pectorali castauea vix obsoleta ; liypo- 
cbondriis subalaribusque fulvo minutb terminatis et fasciatis : rostro rufescenti-brunueo : pedibus aurau- 
tiaco-flavis. 
Adult. Similar to Ocydromus greyi, but generally lighter, having less black on the upper surface, and the plumage 
suffused with warm cinnamon-brown ; the primaries are more distinctly barred ; there is little or no pectoral 
band, the plumage of the breast being irregularly stained with cinnamon ■, there is less grey on the under- 
parts j the under wing-coverts and the flanks are obscurely barred and tipped with fulvous brown j and the 
markings on the under tail-coverts are obsolete. Irides yellowish brown ; bill pale reddish brown ; legs and 
feet beautiful pale lake-red. Total length 18‘5 inches ; wing, from flexure, 8 ; tail 4‘5 ; bill, along the ridge 3, 
along the edge of lower mandible 2T ; tarsus 2‘4 ; middle toe and claw 2'6. 
Obs, The plumage is perceptibly softer to the touch than in 0. greyi, and has a more delicate appearance. 
Mr. G. R. Gray, in his original description {1. c.), says that the bill and feet are “ horn-coloured.” This 
is applicable to the dried specimen from which his description was taken, but it is obvious, at a glance, that 
the colours of these parts have faded out in drying. 
I HATE already mentioned (at p. 107) the circumstances under which I discovered that this bird, 
which belongs really to the South Island, had been, for many years, confounded with the North- 
Island Woodhen under the above name. 
It is, indeed, a strange fact, in the local distribution of species, that a Woodhen so closely re- 
sembling in plumage the form inhabiting the North Island should have been met with in two 
far distant localities on the western side of the South Island. In 1877, Mr. lleischek obtained one of 
these birds on the summit of Mount Alexander. His dog had caught a downy chick, whose cries 
attracted the parent, which, on being shot from the camp fire, proved to be a female of this species, 
with pale reddish-coloured legs. He forwarded the specimen to the late Sir J. von Haast, who sent 
it on to the Imperial Museum at Vienna. Some years later Eeischek met with this bird again in the 
vicinity of Milford Sound, and two of the specimens then collected by him (male and female) are 
now in my collection. It may be readily distinguished from the northern bird by the Avarmer tints 
of its plumage and the brightness of its irides, bill, and feet. 
Its occurrence under the conditions I have mentioned is a very curious and suggestive fact, 
especially when w'e remember that at least three other well-marked species of Woodhen occur 
in the South Island, although not met with in the North Island. 
The peculiar whistling cry of the Woodhen, which is usually commenced at sunset and is 
continued, more or less, all through the night, is very pleasant to hear. A pair of them usually 
perform together, calling alternately and in quick succession, the female always taking the lead. She 
commences with a low whistle, preceded by a guttural sound from the chest (only heard on a very 
near approach), and the call increases in force till it becomes a shrill whistle, the responsive call of 
the male being pitched in a different key. 
Of the five specimens brought by Reischek (three males and two females) one pair was obtained 
on Cooper’s Island, separated from the mainland by half a mile of sea, and the others in a clump of 
natir^e fuchsia at an elevation of 1000 feet. 
Q 2 
