GALLINULA PHCENICURA.
White-breasted Waterhen.
Rallus phoenicurus, Penn. Ind. Zool., p. 19, pi. 9.—Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Na t., tom. i. p. 715.
Gallinula phcenicura, Lath. Ind. Om., tom. ii. p. 770.—Jerd. Birds of India, voll ii. p a rt ii. p. 720.—Swinh. Ibis,
1863, p. 427 ; 1870, p. 364.—Id . Proc. Zool. Soc., 1863, p. 3 2 1 ; 1871, p. 414.—Gray & Mitch. Gen. of
Birds, vol. iii. p. 599, Gallinula, sp. 5.
Red-tailed Waterhen, Penn. Ind. Zool., p. 10, pi. 9 ; ibid. 4to, p. 49, pi. 12.
Red-tailed Gallinule, L ath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p. 770.-§^IfL Gen. Syn., vol. v. p. 259.—Id. Gen. Hist., vol. ix.
p. 413,
Gallinula javanica, Horsf. Linn. Trans, vol. xiii. p. 196.—Id . Zool. Res. in Java, p . , pi. .—-Sykes, in Proc. of
Comm, of Sci. and Corr. o f Zool. Soc., p a r t ii. 1832, p. 164.
— erythrina, Bechst.
Fulica chinensis, Bodd.
La Poule Sultane hrune, Buff. Hist, des Ois., tom. viii. p. 204.—PI. Enl. 896.
Porzana phamicura, Blyth, Cat. o f Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. Calcutta, p. 284.—Swinh. Ibis, 1860, p. 67 ; 1861,
p. 57.—Irb y , Ibis, 1861, p. 246.—Schomb. Ibis, 1864, p. 261.—Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 171.
Gallinula (Erythra) phcenicura, Gray, Han d -list o f B irds, p a rt iii. p . -67.
Erythraphcenicura, Bonap. Compt. Rend, de l’Acad. Sci., tom. xliii. 1856, p.
Dawak, Dahak, or Dauk, Hind.; Boli-hodi, Telugu; Kureyn, of Gonds ; Kurayi, in Scinde. (Jerdon.)
Karawaha, Cinghalese; Khaloo-gwet, Aracan; Roa-Roa, Malay; Tri-bombo, Javan. (Blyth.)
Specimens of this Gallinule having lived for some time in the Zoological Society’s Menagerie in the Regent’s
Park, I was not neglectful of the opportunity thus afforded me of noting the colouring of the soft parts during
life, nor of making the drawing on the opposite Plate from a very clean and well-feathered example immediately
after death. Of such opportunities advantage should always be taken, as they may lead to many interesting
resu lts; in the present instance a slight discrepancy has thus been detected between the colouring
of the soft parts as represented by me from life and their description by Dr. Jerdon, who states that the
irides are blood-red and the legs green, while in the living birds at the Gardens the former were brownish red
and the latter wax-yellow: confinement, it is true, may have affected the colouring of the irides and legs, or
it may be that those parts are heightened or o f a different tint at different seasons.
That this bird is not a true Gallinule I freely a dm it; and any one writing a Monograph of the Gallinulince
would classify the White-breasted Waterhen, with the species I have figured in the ‘ Supplement ’ to the
‘ B irds o f Australia ’ under the name of Gallinula ruficrissa, another from Timor, and perhaps some others,
as a distinct form—which, indeed, has been done by the late Dr. Reichenbach, with the generic appellation of
Erythra, the propriety of such a separation being confirmed when we regard the difference in the habits of
these long-tarsed and short-toed birds, which are far less aquatic than those of the typical Gallínula, o f which
our Common Moorhen ( Gallinula chloropus) is a prominent example.
Dr. Jerdon, speaking of the bird as observed by him in India, says :—
“ The White-breasted Waterhen prefers thickets, hedgerows, and patches of thick jungle, often a t some
distance from w ater; and it is often seen in gardens and close to villages. I t comes out into fields, gardens,
&c. to feed, and, when approached, runs to its covert with great rapidity and erect ta il; it climbs with
facility through the thick shrubs and reeds, and is dislodged with difficulty. Near villages it is often very
tame. I t feeds both on grain and insects, and emits a loud call. Theobald found the nest in a jheel, made
of weeds, containing seven eggs of a brownish cream-colour, spotted and blotched with brownish red. It is
found throughout India and Ceylon, extending through Burmah into the Malayan isles.”
Mr. Blyth states that “ the blood of this species is accounted a valuable remedy by the natives o f Bengal;
hence, in the bazaar, the dealers want a higher price for it than for other birds o f its size.”
Captain Irby remarks that, in Oudh and Kumaon, the Gallinula phoenicura is “ very common throughout the
year, frequenting small ponds and swamps near villages.”
In the MS. notes on Indian birds by the late Captain Boys, it is stated that he shot examples of this
species at Khoonda Pool, on the 5th o f December, 1840, where he found it “ running over weeds and
skulking under brushwood near the w ater; it is shy and difficult of access, flies slowly, but runs swiftly,
and is very good eating.”
The late Sir Robert Schomburgk, in his ‘ Notes on the Birds of Siam,’ says that in that country “ this
Waterhen is not very common ; it is very sh y ; and it was but seldom we could procure it as an addition to
our commissariat.”