112 INDIAN SPOETING BIRDS 



Brown Crake. 



*AmaiLrornis akool. 



The brown crake is a very plain, dingy bird, its dark greenish- 

 brown phimage being only shghtly reheved by a white throat, 

 and grey face, neck, breast, and belly ; the legs are dull red, or in 

 young birds reddish-brown. The bird in Hume's plate with 

 a black face is a young one which has some of the black down of 

 the nestling coat — almost always black in rails — still remaining 

 on the head, which is not uncommonly the case in otherwise 

 fledged specimens of this species. The brown crake is large for 

 a bird of this group, approaching the grey partridge in size. This 

 is a North Indian bird, ranging along the foot of the Himalayas 

 to the Khasi Hills, and occurs as far south as Mysore ; but it 

 is only common in the north. It is not migratory, and breeds 

 from May to September; nesting, it is said, twice during this 

 period. It feeds particularly on small animal life, and is not 

 so much of a skulker as many of its tribe, and early in the 

 morning may be found in the vicinity of water, running about on 

 the bare ground or rocks, and is frequently seen swimming. 

 Pools, streams, and open wells, with but little cover, are frequented 

 by it, and it often perches ; it is, indeed, found in the sort of 

 situations a moorhen frequents. It nests in high grass or on 

 bushes, and lays about six brown-spotted pinkish-white eggs. 

 Outside India it is found in China, but has not turned up in 

 the intermediate countries. 



Whitc-brcastcd Watcr-hcn. 



Amaurornis i^hcenicura. Daicak, Hindustani. 



The contrast between the black upper and white under-parts 

 of this bird, which is besides of a fair size for a rail, being about 

 as big as a partridge though much slimmer, make it a con- 

 spicuous object whenever it comes out of its cover. This it 

 pretty frequently does, for it is the most indifferent to human 

 proximity of all our rails, and is quite common, not only in 



* Porzana on plate. 



