204 KALLID«. 



August and tlie four following months constitute the usual breeding season in Eastern 

 Australia and Tasmania. 



Hypotaenidia australis. 



LAND I;AIL 

 Rallnn pectoral is (nee Cuvier), Uould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. \'I., pi. 70 (181i'S). 

 J/i/po/(rni<lia jJiilippeufis (nrx Linn,), Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. 334 (I8G5). 

 I[iipol(vnldia australis, Pelzeln, Ibis, 1873, p. 43. 



Adult m.\le. — Gi'mral colotir ahovf liglit oUve-hroivn, all the feathers broatUy centred tvith black, 

 those on the hind-neck liariny tlie black marking more spot-like and confined to the apical portion of 

 /he feather, and which has t>ro or three small ronnded white s/mts on the edge of each n-eb, as hare 

 also some of the scapiiJars : upper wing-coverts light iilire-brou-n, tlie median and greater series 

 with broirn centres: (jnills brouni crossed with rufous bars, which pass into almost pure white 

 on the three outer primaries : tail-feathers blackish-bro/rn ma,rgined with olire-bron'n, the central 

 pair sparingly spotted or streaked in the middle of both webs, and the remainder on the inner 

 webs only wit/i dull rufous : feathers on the firehead and cronui of the head olire-bron-n, broadly 

 centred -with black ; a coiispicu>ous n-liile streak commences at the base (f the nostril, jxisses over tlie eye, 

 and changes into grey, where it widens out on the siile of the najte : lores and a broad streak 

 extendinq abore and belou- the eye (much deeper belou- the latter ) anil on the earcorerts and below the 

 grey hand on the sides of the nape, joins in a broad bright rufous band on the hind-neck ; chin and 

 centre of -upper throat dull lohite, gradunUy passing into liglit ashy-grey »m //('' cheeks, remainder 

 of the throat and. upper part of the fore-neck grey : remainder of the under surface white banded with 

 transverse black bars, the chest crosseil icith an ocliraceous-bnff band ; centre of the lower breast 

 and abdomen white or fulvous-white, u:hich is richer and darker in colour on the timer sides of 

 the thighs and vent : outer sides of thighs dull ashy-grey, tinged with fnlroiis : under tail-corerts 

 fulvous, broadli/ barred across ivi/h black and here and there one or tiro small irhite spots : bill dark 

 reddish-brown basal half of lower mandible flesh y-grey ; legs reddish-broirn, feet dull greyish-brown ; 

 iris red. Total length in the flesh 11\.''> inches, wing fj-llo, tail 2-7, bill 1-03, tarsus /v7,'. 



Adult female. — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribution. — North-western .Vustralia, Northern Territory, (Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, South ,\ustralia, Western Australia, Tasmania. 



/~|^HE Pectoral Kail, or Land Kail as it is more frequently called, is found in suitable 

 -I- localities over most parts of Australia and Tasmania, but it is rarer in the latter island 

 than on the continent. It frei^uents chielly scrub and rank herbage in swampy localities, also 

 cultivation paddocks and shrubberies or large gardens. It is common in the vicinity of Sydney, 

 Melbourne and Adelaide, and I have seen it in the Botanic Gardens attached to these cities. 

 Tea-tree scrubs are, however, its favourite haunts. In \'ictoria it used to be common in this 

 kind of scrub, at the mouth of the Yarra; also at the entrance to the Saltwater Kiver, near 

 Yarraville, at one of the lakes in the Botanic Gardens, and further afield the Tea-tree scrubs of 

 Gardiner's Creek, where it enters the Yarra, also higher up at Heidelberg, and where I found it 

 nesting. Nearly all of these localities, if not all, have, however, been improved away. It is 

 found near Sydney in the Centennial Park, at Botany and La Perouse, and occasionally in the 

 Botanic Gardens in the city and the large gardens on the south side of the harbour ; also in the 

 swampy localities between Manly and Newport. One day in October, 1904, when returning 

 from the Linnean Society's Hall, at Elizabeth Bay, I found one of these birds dead, and <|uite 

 warm, just outside the picket fence of a large garden near Ithaca Koad. Skinning and dissection 

 failed to discover the cause of its death, or what had driven it out of its leafy retreat. 



