LAND RAIL. 197 
Adult male (in autumn).—General colour above olive-grey with blackish centres 
to the feathers, including the head, hind-neck, back, scapulars, long innermost 
secondaries, upper tail-coverts and tail; lesser median and greater wing-coverts 
pale chestnut, like the bastard-wing ; primary-coverts dark brown edged with 
rufous; quills dark brown; the first primary white along the outer edge, the 
remainder rufous on the outer webs, with a blackish spot at the tips, the secondaries 
for the most part pale rufous ; lores and a line over the eye rufescent ; throat and 
middle of abdomen whitish ; breast sandy-rufous, darker on the sides of the body, 
where it is barred with white; under tail-coverts similar, and tipped with white ; 
axillaries and under wing-coverts pale chestnut ; edge of wing white. In summer, 
the sides of the neck and a stripe over the eye are blue-grey ; bill, feet and claws 
a pale brown; iris hazel. Total length 240 mm.; culmen 22, wing 130, tail 75, 
tarsus 35. 
Adult female—Similar to the male. 
Nestling.—Covered with sooty-black down, which is darker on the head and 
throat, with lines of rufous feathers and black tips on the back, sides of the body, 
and the flanks. Another example, rather more advanced in age, shows that the 
dorsal tracts of feathers have merged, the feathers having dark brown centres with 
rufous-brown margins ; the tracts on the side of the body are divided by a wide 
ventral space of black down; the feather tracts on the flanks are more rufous, 
Another example, slightly older and still more fledged, shows the last remains of 
the black down on the head, throat, wings, tail, thighs, and a narrow ventral 
line ; the growth of the feathers having closed in the spaces mentioned above ; the 
secondary-quills are just making their appearance, but the. primary-quills are 
scarcely perceptible. 
An almost adult approaching breeding-plumage has the flank feathers very 
definitely barred with rufous-brown and white ; the white on the throat, the grey 
on the face, and the buff streak through the eye, very clearly defined. 
Nest.—A depression in the ground, lined with a pad of dried grasses; usually 
in meadows, but where cover is scanty in clumps of flags, coarse vegetation, etc. 
(Europe.) 
Eggs.—Clutch, 8 to 13; ground-colour drab-grey, blotched and spotted with 
chestnut, and underlying spots of lavender-grey, chiefly at the larger end ; surface 
smooth and glossy ; axis 35 to 38.5 mm., diameter 26 to 27. 
Breeding-season.—Mid-May, June (eggs also in July). 
Distribution and forms—Breeding through Europe into Western Siberia, and 
wintering in Africa, Arabia and India and has occurred once in Australia and once, 
questionably, in New Zealand. The races are, at present, undetermined, but it is 
certain such occur, and consequently we are using the name Buller gave to a Neo- 
zelanic (?) specimen, but if the record is proved bad, the name may not be valid. 
All the eastern specimens available appear to be more boldly marked above and 
with the flanks more boldly barred with darker colour ; the plumages are not well 
understood, as some birds have pure grey edgings to the feathers of the upper-surface 
and the breast grey ; such birds have been secured both in the winter and in the 
breeding-season. 
Genus PORZANA. 
Porzana Vieillot, Analyse nouv. Ornith., p. 61, April 14th, 1816. Type (by monotypy) : 
“Marouette Buffon”? = Rallus porzana Linné. 
Mustelirallus Bonaparte Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, Vol. XLIII., p. 599, Sept. 1856. 
Type (by monotypy): Rallus albicollis Vieillot. 
Galeolimnas Heine und Reichenow, Nomencl. Mus. Hein., p. 320, (pref. Sept.) 1890. New 
name for Mustelirallus Bonaparte. 
Smallest Rails with stout bills, short wings, short wedge tail and short legs and 
long toes. The bill is short, deep at the base, laterally strongly compressed, even 
