JN my poffeffion is another variety, of the fame length as the
firft. The crown and upper parts,, quills and tail, a full
gloffy black : forehead, and under parts as far as the vent, white:
the laft red : legs (lender and yellow : toes long *.
Place. This laft came either from the Cape of Good Hope, or Madagafcar,
and was attempted' to be brought to England alive,, as it
was tolerably familiar; but it died in the paffage.
Kolben mentions a Water Hen as common at the Cape f , andi
merely fays that it is “ black, and of the fize of the common
European Water Hen." It may perhaps prove one of the var-
rieties of this fpecies..
Fulica fufca, Lin. Sy/i. i. p. z57-. 1.
BROWN G» La petite Poule d’Eau, Brif. Orn. vi. p-. 6. 2.
La Poulette d’Eau, Buf. Oif. viii. p. 177.
Another green-footed Water-Hen of Bellonius, Will. Orn. p. 314»
Aldro'vandus's ItalianRail, Raii Sjn. p. 116. 15.— Will. Orn. p. 319.
D e s c r i p t io n. T H IS is lefs than the common Gallinult: length one foot. Bill.
one inch, olive green: irides red: eyelids white: the plumage
above is olive brown: throat, and fore part of the. neck, deep-
afh-colour, with a tinge of olive : breaft, belly, and thighs, afh-
colour, the feathers margined with white at the tips: under tail
coverts black : bend of the wing white : quills dulk.y brown; the
* Thefe birds no doubt vary much in colour. I have met with them in two1
different fets of Cbinefi drawings, in both of which the forehead was of. a deep
red : the bill and legs green : quills and tail dufky black.
f Kolb. Cape,.vol. ii.. p. 140,
outer
outer one edged with white : the tail is olive brown; the outer
feather white, and a little rounded in lhape: legs olive brown :
garter round the knee yellow.
This inhabits France, and is a folitary bird; frequenting the
fame places with the commo_n Gallimtles, but not mixing with that
fpecies: it feeds on the fame food as that bird, and the flelh
is much like it in the tafte.
In all probability this is the fame with Aldrovandus’s Italian
Rail, which is taken in the neighbourhood o f Venice with great
ceremony : feveral perfons wading among the marlhy places, and.
drfving them from the bufhes and places .where they lurk, while
others being ready with Hawks, let them off as foon as they take
wing. They are faid to have been much.efteemed at the time of
the above-mentioned author-
Place-
La grande Poul'e-d’Eau, Brif. Orn. vi! p. 9. 3'.
—r, ■ -— ---------- , ou Porzane, Buf. Oif viii; p^ ,78s
Gallina chloropus altera Aldrov. Rail Syn. p. 114. 3.
The other green-footed, Water-Hen of AUrovand, Will. Orn. p. 313.
JT A R G E R than the laft: length eighteen inches. Bill two
inches long ; the bafe, and moff part of the under mandiblfe,
yellow; the reft of the- length black : bare part on the forehead
yellow : the head and neck are blackilh : the upper parts of the
body and' wings chefhut: breaft, belly, and Tides, dull afh-colour,
edged with white : lower belly and vent white :' the thighs afh-
colour, croffed with indiftindt lines of white : tail rounded in
fhape ; the colour chefnut, except the-two outer feathers, which,
are white: legs green.
The f emale differs only in being paler in colour.
Yellow--
>+•
Var. A.
Description.
F emale,