THE BIRDS OF TEE ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS. G95 



saw nothing of my friend ; however I noticed some footprints on the mud 

 which struck me as too small for Erj/thra jjJiccmatj-a^ so I spent the mornintj 

 in running a long low barrier of sticks and branches through the jungle 

 for fifty yards, leaving open four or five small arches, in each of 

 which I suspended a noose. Feeling pretty confident that if RalUna 

 cannivgi came against this fence in his morning's walk he would follow 

 it along looking for an opening and get into the nearest noose, I then 

 went of! to breakfast. It rained heavily all the afternoon, and I was 

 feeling very seedy with a touch of fever, but I dragged myself off to 

 look at the nooses, and there, to my delight, drownt d and draggled in 

 the mud was R. canniiigi at last, with a noose so tight round his neck 

 that I had to cut it to get it ofi'. He certainly looked very disreput- 

 able indeed, but clean water and plaster of Paris worked wonders and he 

 turned out a beauty. After this success I lengthened ihe fence and put in a 

 few more nooses : I at once caught a second specimen, but after this I was 

 constantly finding the nooses bro' en, the beaten down mud and leaves and a 

 few rich chesnut feathers showing that a rail had been trapped, but had 

 presumably effected its escape. On these occasions I noticed other foot- 

 mark's about the place, too large for R. canningi or E. phcmiaira, and with five 

 toes — made in short by the Bur" ese convict mahouts in charge of the Forest 

 Department elephants working nenr the spot. As there was not much use 

 in snaring birds for convicts to eat, I had to give up this particular spot. 



On my return from the Nicobars in September I set myself to work to try 

 to get a good series of this rail. At every likely spot in the jungles for 

 some distance round I put down one of these fences with nooses, and a most 

 killing trap they proved. Altogether in about two months I captured about 

 80 of these splendid rails, the only big series ever obtained, excepting a 

 dozen specimens which Mr. Hume received subsequent to his visit from 

 Captain Wimberley. All these birds were killed within one square mile, 

 showing how numerous the species really is. During this time the nooses 

 also caught about ir»0 white-breasted waterhens ; blue-breasted rails. If* (in- 

 cluding two chicks in down) ; jungle-crows, 23 5 bronze-winged doves, about 

 30 ; — and 1 large toad. Many other birds were also taken from the traps by 

 pigs and jungle-cats {Parado:rums amlamanpnsis), and a number were destroy- 

 ed by ants in spite of my going the rounds twice a day, I found that 

 thin water-cord fishing-line, waxed stiff to keep the required position and 

 then oiled slightly to make it run well, made the most excellent nooses ex- 

 ceedingly strong, and very quickly made. 



I kept two or three of these rails in captivitj' for some time. With their 

 rich glossy chesnut upper plumage, contrasting with the broad black-and- 

 white bands of the flanks and lower parts, their bright green bills and 

 beautiful ruby eyes, they are certainly the handsomest bird of the family 

 in Asia. They carry themselves rather high on their legs, the head generally 



