VICTORIA 135 



frogs. It lays pale blue eggs, southward in Tas- 

 mania or away in the Pelew Islands. 



RAILS AND CRAKES 

 (Plate 2, Fig 57) 



There are five species of Rails and five different 

 Crakes in Australia. One of the latter is only a 

 visitor from Asia and is classed as a stray. The 

 usual custom is to leave China in Autumn and fly 

 south to Sumatra. We have discovered that one 

 bird overflew its country and landed in New South 

 Wales, the Corn Crake of Europe and Asia. 



Map 57 shows "a" the Pectoral Rail to have a 

 deep range of distribution with an eastern diversion 

 from the type (sub sp. mellori), and from the com- 

 mon range. 



The largest of our rails, the Chestnut-bellied 

 Rail is purely a northern bird. 



The Spotted Crake frequents the damp spots 

 between eastern Queensland and southern Tas- 

 mania. A leafy staging leads from the water to the 

 nest and the eggs are brownish olive, rather un- 

 usual among birds. 



Rails and Crakes are shy sensitive birds, as I 

 gather from a nest of eggs of the Pectoral Rail 

 collected in September. Having discovered the 

 nest of eggs I counted them and left them till my 

 return in the afternoon. Then I found they had all 

 been removed to a quickly made rough nest some 

 dozen yards away. The birds had lifted them, one 



