CULTIROSIRES. 265 



outer web of 1st quill yellowish white; secondaries with zigzag white 

 lines bordered with black ; tertiaries yellowish brown, with a tinge of olive, 

 spotted or streaked irregulai*Iy with white, which have edgings of black ; 

 tail dusky brown ; bill dark green ; irides reddish ; legs fleshy brown. 



Length. — 7 to 7*75 inches, wing 3'67, tail r75 to 2, bill at front 

 0"62, tarsus 1*0, mid-toe and claw ]"5. 



Hab. — Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces and Oudh, also Bengal, Nepaul, 

 Rajputana, Kutch, (iuzerat, Concanand Deccan, andgenerally throughout 

 India. It is also an inhabitant of Beloochistan and Afghanistan, and 

 probably Persia also. In Central and Southern India it is said to be 

 not uncommon. 



The habits of this species is not unlike the other Rails, but as a rule 

 it, is more shy and retiring, and when disturbed, runs with great speed 

 on the lotus leaves or other aquatic herbage, and conceals itself among 

 the thickest of the coverts it frequents. 



Porzana minuta, Pall; Nauw. Vog. t. 239; Gould. B. Eiir. pi. 

 345 ; Hiime, Str. F. i. 251 ; Murray, Hdbk., Zuol, ^c, /Smi, p. 224. 

 Porzana parvus, Scop. — The Little Crake. 



Crown of the head deep brown ; sides of the head, both above and 

 below the eye, ash or slate colour ; chin and throat dull or greyish 

 white, the forepart of the neck pale ash ; under parts ashy or grey blue 

 in the males, light rufous bulf in females ; lower abdomen and vent deep 

 or olive brown, spotted with white ; neck behind and shoulder of the 

 wing olive brown ; back deep olive brown, the feathers with broad 

 mesial dark stripes, their inner margins pale with some white linear 

 spots and streaks ; primaries and secondaries deep brown with paler 

 edges ; lesser wing-coverts plain dull olive brown ; tail dusky olive 

 brown; under tail-coverts slaty grey with spots and bars of white. 



Length. — 7 to 8 inches, bill 0*7, wing 3*8, tail 1*5 to 1"75, irides red, 

 bill and legs yellowish green. 



Mr. Hume in Str. F. i. p. 251, says : — " Bailloni (pygmsea) always may 

 be distinguished at a glance from minnta by its smaller size, shorter, and 

 in proportion deeper bill, and by having the back, scapulars and greater 

 wing-coverts all more or less profusely variegated with bluish white, 

 whereas in minuta, the white markings, which are somewhat broader 

 and purer white, are confined as a rule to the centre of the back, though 

 occasionally some of the longer scapulars are also faintly edged with 

 bluish white. In minuta the wing varies from o'75 to 4*1, tho bill at 

 front 0'7 to 0*76; in Bailloni (pygmaea) the wing varies from about 

 3-45 to 3-62, and the bill 0-6 to 0-62. 



Hah. — Sind, Eastern Turkistan and Cashmere. Not known to occur 

 anywhere else in India. It is abundant in all the large inlau.d pieces 

 of water or dhunds. 



Tribe CULTIROSTRES,— Cuv. 



Bill large, long, stout and strong, pointed, and in some slightly 

 curved ; tarsi generally long and scutellate ; tail short ; tibia bare for 

 a considerable space. 

 34 z 



