372 RALLINA. 
greyish-white, the forepart of the neck pale ash; under parts 
ashy or grey-blue in the males, light rufous buffin female; 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 dark mesial 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. 
Within our limits the Little Rail only occurs in Sind. 
Porzana fusca, Lin. 
911.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 724. 
THE Ruppy Raitt. 
Length, 8°4 to 87; expanse, 13°25 to 145; wing, 3°75 to 425; 
tail, 2:2 ; tarsus, 1-4 to 1°55; bill at front, 0°8 to 09; bill at gape, 
0°9 to 1. 
Bill blackish-horny to greenish-brown; irides red; legs red, 
dusky at joints and on toes. 
Forehead, cheeks, and sides of the head, neck, throat, breast, 
and abdomen, vinous chesnut, albescent on the chin and throat; 
upper plumage dull olive-brown, darker on the wings and tail ; 
lower abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts, darker olivaceous 
with white bars. 
The young want the rufous tint and have the entire chin and 
throat white, and the the rest of the lower surface dull earthy 
olive-brown, mottled or imperfectly barred with brownish-white. 
According to Jerdon the Ruddy Rail is found throughout 
India. I cannot find any record of its occurrence within our 
limits, but probably owing to its skulking habits, it has been 
overlooked. 
Genus, Hypotenidia, Reich. 
Bill somewhat lengthened, straight, or slightly turned down 
at the tip, slender, grooved for two-thirds of its length; nostrils 
linear; wings with the first quill much shorter than the second 
or third, and a small spur on the shoulder; tarsus and toes as in 
Porzana. The feathers of the forehead somewhat spiny. 
Hypotenidia striata, Lin. 
913.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 726, Butler, Deccan ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol IX, p. 482. 
THE BLUE-BREASTED BANDED RAIL. 
Length, 98 to 11:5; expanse, 1425 to 175; wing, 45 to 
5:0; tail, 1°5 to 2°25; tarsus, 1:35 to 1:62; bill from gape, 1°35 to 
1:82; weight, 3°6 to 5 oz. 
The colors of the soft parts are extremely variable. 
Top of head and hind-neck dark chesnut; upper plumage 
