264 RALLtN^; 



Sub-Family, RALLIN^,— Rails. 



]Porehead with a nude shield; bill compressed, slender ; toes shorter 

 than in the Oallinules ; shoulder of wing with a tubercle or short 

 spur. 



Gen. Porzana, — Viell. 



Wings moderate, rounded ; tail short ; toes long, about the length of 

 the tarsus. 



Porzana maruetta, BHss. ; Jerd. B. Ind. iii. p. 722, No. 909 ; 



Str. F. iv. 21 ; Murray, Hdbk., Zool, 4'c., Sind, p. 224. Rallus 

 porzana, Lin. ; P. E. 750 ; Gould. B. Eur. pi. 343. — The Spotted Rail. 



Forehead ashy browu ; crown and nape dusky, streaked with 

 ferruginous ; superciliary streak extending behind the eye ashy grey, 

 spotted with white ; hind neck dusky, minutely freckled with black and 

 white. Upper back and scapulars dark brown, almost black, the 

 feathers broadly margined and tipped with ochreous olive and usually 

 the margin of one or both webs with linear spots and streaks of 

 white ; lower back and rump dusky brown, the feathers narrowly 

 barred with white ; wing-coverts like the back, the outer mar- 

 gin of both webs with two pairs of white, black-edged spots ; tertia- 

 ries dark brown on their outer webs, and with 6 — 7 narrow, oblique 

 white bars ; their inner webs rufescent brown ; primaries and secon- 

 daries pale hair brown, the outer web of the first quill and bastard 

 primary, also the edge of the wing white ; the margins of the outer 

 webs of the other primaries tinged with pale rufescent ; axillaries 

 dark brown with transverse white bars ; chin and throat greyish white ; 

 breast olive brown ; the feathers barred with white ; abdomen ashy 

 white ; flanks olive brown, barred transversely with black and white ; 

 tail rufescent brown, mesially dai^k brown ; vent and under tail-coverts 

 rufescent white ; bill greenish yellow, orange at the base ; irides reddish 

 brown ; legs bright yellowish green. 



Length. — 8'8 to 9 inches, wing 4*5 to 4"8, tail 1*82 to 2, bill at front 

 0'75 to 0-9, tarsus 1*4, mid-toe and claw TC 



Hah. — Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces and Oudh, the Himalayas, 

 Bengal, Rajputana, Guzerat, Kutch, Concan, Deccan and Mysore ; also 

 in Arabia, Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan and Eastern Turkistan. 

 Occurs all over Europe and North Afi'ica. Affects the reedy swamps 

 and feeds on aquatic insects, larvse, snails and grass seeds. 



Porzana pygmsea* Naum. Vog. t. 239 ; Gould. B. Eur. pi. 344 j 

 Jerd. B. Ind. iii. p. 722, No. 910; Murray, Hdhk., Zool., Sec, Sind, p. 

 224. Porzana Bailloni, Viell. — The Pigmy Rail or Baillon's Crake. 



Head and hind neck wood brown ; back, scapulars and wing-coverts 

 yellowish brown with an olive tinge, the feathers with numerous irre- 

 gular, white, black-edged spots ; supercilium, cheeks, chin and throat 

 grey; breast and upper abdomen bluish grey ; the sides, vent and under 

 tail-coverts black, with transverse white bars ; primaries dusky brown ; 



