RALLINZE. 369 
_ Above black with greenish reflections, especially on the wing- 
coverts ; chin, throat, and breast, pure white ; lower abdomen, 
vent, and under tail-coverts, deep chesnut. 
The White-breasted Water Hen occurs in suitable localities 
throughout our limits; it is a-permanent resident, breeding 
about August, The rest is placed in a variety of situations. 
In bamboo clumps, amongst reeds and rushes, upon the ground, 
and evenupon trees. The eggs, four or five in number, are oval 
in shape, pointed somewhat at one end ; in color they are pale 
pinkish-stone, more or less profusely streaked and blotched with 
pale reddish-purple. They measure 1'6 inches in length by about 
1°18 in breadth. 
SuB-FAMILY, Ralline. 
_ Base of the bill not prolonged over the forehead ; beak much 
compressed; feet somewhat shorter than in Gallinula; body 
still more compressed. 
Genus Porzana, /ierll. 
Bill about the length of the head, compressed throughout, 
moderately slender, very slightly deeper at the base, and somewhat 
narrowed in the middle ; wings moderate, rounded ; tail very 
short; tarsus moderate ; toes rather long, slender, smooth ; claws 
compressed, sharp. 
Porzana akool, Sykes. 
908.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 722; Butler, Guzerat ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 21 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 
IX, p. 431; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, 
. 135. 
THE BROWN AND ASHY CRAKE. 
THE Brown Raitt. 
Length, g, 10°87 to 12:0, 9,100 to 113; expanse, g, 15°75 
to 170, 9, 150 to 15°82; wing, g, 49 to 53, 9, 4:4 to 
49°; tail, ¢, 24to 2:8, 9, 2:3 to 2°62; tarsus, ¢, 1:9 to 2:1, 
95 17 to 1:8; bill from gape, ¢, 13 to 1°68) 9):1-2 to D4ey 
weight, g, 4 to 6 ozs., 9, 3°7 to 4°9 oz. 
Bill green, dusky on culmen ; lower mandible tipped lavender 
blue; irides vary from reddish-brown to crimson; legs and 
feet dull lake-red in adults in breeding season, darker in cold 
season ; young birds reddish-brown. 
Above olive-brown, ashy-brown on rump ; wings and tail dusky ; 
wing-coverts deep brown ; chin white; throat, breast, and belly 
ash-brown; flanks olive-brown ; lower tail-coverts deep brown. 
The Brown and Ashy Crake is a common permanent resident in 
Guzerat and parts of Rajputana ; it does not occur in Sind, and 
is decidedly rare in the Deccan. They breed twice during the 
rains, once in July and again in September. The nest is similar 
to, but smaller than, that of the Water Hen. The eggs vary from 
24 
