_Description._--Above olivaceous; head darker; wings brown; wing-coverts tinged with chestnut; outer secondaries more or less distinctly margined with white: beneath cinereous; middle of belly and crissum white; flanks olivaceous, spotted with white; bill dark olive, with the tip yellowish; feet hazel: whole length 9·0 inches, wing 5·0, tail 2·0. _Female_ similar.
In the southern part of the Argentine country the Little Waterhen is a summer visitant, and very abundant in the marshes along the Plata. In language and habits it is like the Coots: it is not often seen on land, and feeds principally as it swims about in a jerky manner among the floating weeds. It appears in October, migrating exclusively, I think, by night; and after the autumnal departure an individual is rarely seen. By day they are shy and retiring, but scatter abroad in the evening, frequently uttering their hollow mysterious cry, called _the witch laugh_ by superstitious people, and resembling a sudden burst of hysterical laughter, the notes beginning loud and long, becoming brief and hurried as they die away.
+Gallinula galeata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 505 (Rio Paraná); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 140; _iid. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 462; _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 627 (Buenos Ayres); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 277 (Entrerios).
_Description._--Above grey; middle of back and wings olivaceous brown: beneath grey, whitish on the middle of the belly; bend of the wing, stripes on the flanks, and sides of crissum pure white; middle of crissum and tail black; frontal shield and bill red, the latter tipped with yellow; feet olive varied with yellow; naked portion of shank scarlet: whole length 15·0 inches, wing 7·5, tail 5·5. _Female_ similar.
The American representative of our familiar Waterhen extends into the western provinces of the Argentine Republic. Mr. Barrows tells us it is abundant on the Lower Uruguay, and Dr. Burmeister met with it on the Paraná.
+Fulica armillata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 505 (Mendoza, Paraná); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 140; _iid. P. Z. S._ 1868, p. 145 (Buenos Ayres); _iid. Ex. Orn._ pl. lviii. p. 115; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 195 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 401 (Centr. Patagonia); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 277 (Entrerios); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 471 (Lomas de Zamora).