Fulica chloropus Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 152.
Gallinula chloropus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1894), 23, 169;
Hand-List (1899), 1, 107; Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898),
4, 175, fig. 37 (head); Grant and Whitehead, Ibis (1898), 246
(eggs); Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1901), 1, 123; McGregor and
Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 18.
Ca-rab' i-tu-mon', Bohol.
Basilan (McGregor); Bohol (McGregor); Calayan (McGregor); Cebu
(Everett); Guimaras (Bourns & Worcester); Leyte (Everett); Luzon
(Meyer, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead,
McGregor); Mindanao (Everett, Bourns & Worcester); Mindoro (Bourns
& Worcester); Negros (Keay); Panay (Bourns & Worcester); Samar
(Whitehead). Europe, Asia, Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius.
Adult male.--General color dark slaty gray; head, neck, chin, and
throat black shaded into slate-gray posteriorly; back, rump, upper
tail-coverts, and inner wing-feathers dark olive-brown; feathers on
middle of abdomen more or less fringed with white; several long flank
feathers with long white stripes on outer webs; crissum black; under
tail-coverts pure white; wings blackish; edge of wing and of first
primary white; under wing-coverts and axillars blackish with white
tips; tail blackish. "Frontal shield and two-thirds of the bill deep
lake-red, and tip of the latter greenish yellow for about one-third;
legs olive-green, the broad scaling on the fore part of the tarsus,
and the scales of the upper part of the toes, lemon-yellow; joint
of heel dusky olive-green, with a shade of lemon-yellow immediately
below the garter, which is dark lake-red; iris reddish." (Sharpe.) Two
males from Bohol measure: Wing, 157, 162; tail, 70, 73; bill from
posterior margin of frontal shield, 43, 45; bill from nostril, 15,
16; tarsus, 52; middle toe with claw, 76, 77.
Adult female.--Similar to the male but smaller. A female from Basilan
measures: 292 in length; wing, 138; tail, 63; culmen from posterior
margin of frontal shield, 37; bill from nostril, 14; bill from gape,
27; tarsus, 49; middle toe with claw, 74.
Young.--Above richer brown, top of head washed with brown; below
lighter than adult; chin, upper throat, and sides of face white mixed
more or less with brown and dark gray; feathers on rest of under
parts more or less fringed with brown and white; middle of abdomen
pure white.
"The eggs of the moorhen are normally of a broad oval form and have
a small amount of gloss. The ground-color varies much, being creamy
white, pale greenish white, pale buff or pinkish buff. The markings
consist of specks, spots, and bold blotches of deep reddish brown, and
a few underlying pale purple spots. The combinations in which these
markings occur are numerous. In some, the markings are all small and
densely set over the shell; in others, spots are combined with huge
blotches which are often confluent. As a rule the larger end of the
egg is more thickly marked than the other parts. A few specimens are
devoid of all markings except some pale purple blotches. Examples vary
from 39.3 to 55 in length and from 27.9 to 36 in breadth." (Oates.)
Four eggs collected by Whitehead in Samar, August 25, 1896, are
thus described: "The eggs are perfectly similar to those laid by
European moorhens, but the number of eggs in the clutch, as well
as their relatively smaller size, is noteworthy. Measurements 42 by
39." (Grant and Whitehead.)
Genus GALLICREX Blyth, 1849.
Bill stout and of moderate length; frontal shield pointed behind, much
larger in males than in females, and in the breeding season terminating
in a free horn-like process; legs and toes very long and heavy.