CEYLON RAILS, WADERS, GULLS, AND TERNS. 183 
HyYPoT&NIDIA STRIATA (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 160; 
Legge, p. 775). 
The Blue-breasted Banded Rail. 
Description.—Crown and back of the neck chestnut ; rest 
of the upper surface, including wings and tail, dark olive- 
brown speckled with broken white crossbars. Throat and 
chin white ; face, foreneck, and breast ashy gray ; remainder 
of the under surface blackish with white bars. 
Females are duller, and have the middle of the abdomen 
dirty white. 
Young birds have a brown cap and no white crossbars on 
the back. 
Bill stouter and shorter than in the last species and variable 
in colour ; upper mandible brown, lower some shade of red ; 
legs and feet olive-green or gray ; iris red or yellowy-brown. 
Length 10°5; wing 4°65; tail 1°75; tarsus 1°55; bill 
from gape 1°65. 
Distribution —A rare resident scattered through the low- 
country ; some birds may be migrants. The species occurs 
in the greater part of India and Burma, and through South- 
eastern Asia to the Malay Archipelago, and the Philippines. 
Habits —Similar to those of the last species, but the bird is 
more silent. It breeds apparently during the wet weather, as 
I have one clutch of eggs taken in December in the North- 
Western Province. The nest was a pad of flattened-down 
grass stalks on the edge of a paddy field ; eggs five in number, 
pinky-white, rather sparingly spotted, chiefly at the larger 
end, with reddish-brown and pale grayish-purple. They 
measured 1°39 by 1°02. 
PoRZANA PUSILLA (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 165). 
PORZANA BAILLONI (Legge, p. 766). 
The Eastern Baillon’s Crake. 
Description —Upper plumage brown with black streaks and 
some white marks as if smeared with white paint. Face, 
throat, neck, and breast ashy-gray; a brown stripe runs 
from the base of the bill through the eye to the side of the neck ; 
