I'OKZANA. 213 



iiUerminj^leil with lar.^er and darker blotciies, they fonn an irre,L,'ular cap or zone. A set of live 

 taken on the <,th of September, lyoo, by Mr. I\Ial.:ohn Harrison, at iJrid-^ewater, on tlie Derwent 

 Kiver, South-eastern Tasmania, measures:— Leii-th (A) 124 x o'g inches; (B) 1-23 x 0-92 

 inches; (C) 1-31 x o-y inches; (D) 1-23 x 0-95 inches; (C) nh x o-88 inches. A set of six 

 ni Mr. Harrison's collection, taken by him on the jnd November, 1902,10 the same locality, 

 measures :~Length (A) i-i8 x 0-92 inches; (B) 1-17 x o-g inches; (C) 1-17 x o-g inches; 

 (D) I-I7 X o-g inches; (E) i-i6 x o-g inches; (F) 1-2: x 0-88 inches. A set of five in the 

 Australian Museum Collection, taken on the 21st November, 1903, on Buckiinguy Station, near 

 Nyngan, New South Wales, measures :— Length (A) 1-16 x o-gi inches; (B) 1-23 x ogi 

 inches; (C) 1-23 x o-gf, inches ; (D) 1-2 x 0-93 inches; (E) 1-36 x 0-92 inches; the latter 

 specimen is unusually elongated. The eggs of this species bear a strong resemblance to a 

 \-ariety of the eggs of Cntctinis ni'^ngidayis and Sphco'thcns waxillayis. 



The usual breeding season commences in August and continues the five following months, 

 nests with eggs, however, are more often found from September to the end of November. 



Porzana palustris. 



LITTLK WATER t;liAKE. 

 ]'oi-jiHii pnJnstris,(_io\x\A,Vroc.'Aoo\. Soc, 1842, p. 139; id., Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VI., pi. 80 

 (b"^4S); t(/., Haiidhk. Hds. Austr., Vol. H., p. 340 (18G.5) ; Sliarpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., 

 Vol. XXIH., p. 109 (1S94;: i,l., Hand-1. Bds., Vol. L, p. lO'J (1899). 

 Adult male. — General colour ahoiv, iuchi.ding lli>'. cenhv of f./in forfh/'ai/, cro>rti of tlifi head, 

 and hind-neck, ochraceou^-hruum, ivi/h blackish centres to nil the feathers, these dnsky centres broader 

 anil more distinct on the back, n-hrre tlieif are Jinely freckled ,n- streaked with while ; inner upper 

 winy-corerls and inner secondaries like the back, the on.t.r series an i form ochraceous-bmn-n : remainder 

 of the i/uills dark slaty-broivn, first primary margined mith icliite on llie outer web, the inner webs of 

 the inner primaries and outer secon.daries linring a small rounded spot 0/ white at the tip ; laiffeathers 

 ochracenus-brown, with a blackish streak down the centre ; chin white.- sides of face and neck, throat and 

 breast pale ashy-grey .■ remainder of the under surface dull bruu-nish-black, slightly washed on (lie 

 sides of the body uvtii ochraceous-bron-n, and crossei/ utith irregular white transcerse bars : centre, 

 of the lou/er breast and a.bduiiieu, irltile : under tail-corerts white barred across n-itli brownish-black ; 

 bill olice, cuJinen olive-broum : legs olirr .- f-et olire slightly tinged with brown .■ iris re.iblish-orange : 

 skin around the eye gamboge. Total length in the lle.<], irS inches, wing -3 !, tail J-7-'j, bill ()■(), 

 tarsus 1. 



Adult FKMALK. — Similar in plnmag,' In tJw male. 



Distribiitioii.—SoutheTn Queensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria, South .Australia, larger 

 Islands of Bass Strait, Tasmania. 



^^IlE Little Water Crake is widely distributed over the south-eastern portion of the 

 Australian Continent, and is also found on some of tlie larger islands of Bass Strait 

 and in Tasmania. Reed-beds and backwaters, coarse grass tussocks and tlie rank herbage 

 growing around swamps are its favourite haunts. In my early collecting days in Victoria it 

 was the only species of Water Crake I was acquainted with, and was fortunate enough to live 

 withm a (juarter of a mile of where its nests and eggs were tal<en on several occasions by school 

 mates, in the Albert Park, near iVIelbourne. It was fairly common in two places ; in the rush, reed, 

 and rank grass-covered mud flats near the main road entrance from Albert Park, and at the 

 St. Kilda end of the lake, in a similar class of country, in both of these places it used to breed, 

 but they have been long improved out of existence. I have also seen it, but not in such numbers, 

 on the weed-covered water on the margins of the lake in the Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. 



5t 



