on Dr. Jei'don's 'Birds of India.' 171 



902. PoRPHYRio POLiocEPHALUs (Lath.); " P. smaragnotus, 

 Teram./' Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 165. 



On the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal the range of this 

 species extends to the South Tenasserira provinces ; while that 

 either of P. smaragdinus, Temm. (the Sumatran species), or of 

 P. indicus (the Javau race, which diflfers slightly) begins with 

 the Malayan Peninsula. 



904. Gallicrex cristata. 



The range of this bird extends to China. After the breeding- 

 season the caruncle of the male shrinks into a mere pointed frontal 

 shield, and the colouring of the plumage changes by moulting to 

 that of the female. The hue of the breeding-season is assumed 

 by a change of colouring in the same feathers as the caruncle 

 again rises. Judging from Mr. Wolf's figures of the Weka- 

 Rail of New Zealand, I should infer that the plumage of the 

 male of that species undergoes a similar change. 



906. Gallinula burnesi. 



This presumed species was discriminated from the fragments 

 of a specimen (which should still be in a stoppered bottle in the 

 Calcutta Museum) compared with one of Sir A. Burnes's 

 drawings, and not from a specimen sent by him. 



907. PoRZANA PHOENicuRA ranges as far as Timor, and is also 

 found in China. The blood of this species is accounted a valuable 

 remedy by the natives of Bengal, as is also that of Casarca 

 rutila ; hence in the bazar the dealers want a higher price for 

 P. phoenicura than for other birds of its size. 



908. PoRZANA AKOOL (Sykes); Ortygometra griseopedus, G. 

 R. Gray, B. M. Cat. Hodgson's Coll. p. 75. 



911. PoRZANA FUSCA inhabits also China, Formosa, and 

 Japan. Ortijgometra flammiceps, G. R. Gray, B. M. Cat. Hodg- 

 son's Coll. p. 75 ? 



912. PoRZANAZEYLANiCA (Gmcl.) ; Ortygometra superciHaris, 

 G. R. Gray, B. M. Cat. Hodgson's Coll. {nee Eyton). 



This species is not, to my knowledge, an inhabitant of Lower 

 Bengal. An allied species exists in the Rallina minahasa, Wal- 

 lace (P. Z. S. 1862, p. 346), from Celebes. 



