21 G HALLID^E. 



<,'alli)iii/a iiinii(iri'l(i/i(, Swains, Aiiiui, in Menag., p. '-'I'M (1S37). 



I'ur'.ana .' iminaciJula, liould, lul.s. Austr., fol. Vol. \'l., [>!. S2 {I84S). 



roi-.aiiii I. lnlni»n!iis, Gould, Hainlljk. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. oil (ISGfi^ ; Sliarpe, Cat. Bds. Ijrit. 



Mus., Vol. XX III,, p. Ill (l.S'J-l). 

 I'of.ana plnmhi'a, Shai-pe, llaud-l. Ikls., Vol, I., p. 102 (IcSli'.t). 



Adult m.^lk. — (ri-iu'ral cnJonr ahoce rliocdlali-broini : -xpper ivimj-corerfs like Ihf hack : ijuilis 

 daskij-hroii.ni, tin: iimenaoul secoiiilarlen chucola/i'-broivn, tin' outer ivebs of tlie. JlrH primary edged ivilh 

 9fhile : tipper /ail-cuver/s and lnil-featJiers hinck : lores, Jent./ters be!o>v the ei/e, fore/irad, crinvii uflifnd, 

 and tmpe dusky, sliyht/y tinyed ivif/i s/d/yi/rey : sides of heail and. all llie unihr snrfdce slalp-yrey ^ 

 under tail-coverts s/aty-yrey, the central ones blackish, all ivillt irhite cross bars ami lips. Total biiyth 

 >n the tli'sh 7 li inches, iriny 3'!/, tail l'S5, bill 0'7, tarsus 1"2. 



Adult FKM.\LK — "Similar in plmnaye to the male. 



Distribution. — Northern Territory, Oueensland, New South Wales, X'ictoria, South .\ustralia, 

 Western Australia, larger Islands of Bass Strait, Tasmania. 



Al^HE Spotless Water Crake is generally distributed over the southern half of the Australian 

 -L continent, and although found in Western Australia, it is much rarer there; it likewise 

 occurs on some of the larger islands of Bass Strait and in Tasmania. iMr. G. A. Keartland also 

 records it from the Northern Territory. 



In the ."Xustralian iMuseum Collection are e.xamples procured in .'\pril, i866, by the late Mr. 

 George Masters, while collecting on behalf of the Trustees of the Australian Museum, from 

 King George Sound, Western Australia, to the Tweed Ki\er, in Northern New South Wales, 

 and south to the Ouse River, Tasmania. But by far the greater number of specimens in the 

 collection were obtained at Randwick and Botany, comparatively close to Sydney, for next to 

 Porzana paliisiris the present species is the commonest Water Crake obtained near the metropolis. 

 The late Mr. Henry Newcombe presented several specimens, so also has Mr. H. E. S. 

 Jeboult, and both of these gentlemen informed me that the birds were caught by their 

 dogs, while searching for game at Randwick, Long Bay and Botany. To describe the 

 haunts, habits, and food of one species of Water Crake is to describe them all. The low lying 

 rush-covered swampy grounds adjoining Cook River at Tempe, is also a resort of this species, 

 and on the northern side of Sydney I larbour in similar country between Greenvale and Narrabeen 

 Lagoon ; formerly it could be obtained at the head of Manly Lagoon, but the low-lying parts 

 have since been drained and cultivated. 



From Melbourne Mr. G. A. Keartland sent me the following notes : — " Although I have 

 not obtained the Spotless Water Crake (Porzana tabncnsis) inyself, I had a rough skin forwarded 

 to me from the Daly River, in the Northern Territory, along with a clutch of eggs. I also had 

 a specimen in the flesh sent to me, picked up dead, but warm, alongside the railway line near 

 Wallan, \'ictoria." 



From Broome Hill, South-western Australia, Mr. Tom Carter wrote: — " The only specimen 

 of the Spotless Water Crake (Porzana plumhca) that has come under my notice, was shot by me 

 as it swam across a small sheet of water near Albany. I was sitting on the bank watching the 

 birds, when a duck swam in under the bank below me, and commenced a scuffle with some- 

 thing ; croaking noises sounded below me, when out swam the Water Crake, apparently having 

 been hunted out by the duck." 



Mr. Malcolm Harrison wrote as follows from llobart, Tasmania: — "It was not until 

 1901 that I obtained the lirst set of four eggs of the Spotless Water Crake (Porr.ana tabncnsis). 

 There was then an interval until 1907, when on the 26th October I obtained the second 

 set, also of four. On both occasions the nests were found by accident. On the first an 

 in\iting looking clump of rush was sat upon by a small boy, when the bird flashed and the eggs 



