372 GRALL^. — RALLID^. 



MINUTE CRAKE.* 



Ortygoinetra minuta. 



Rallus minutus, var. j3. Lath. 



Ortygometra minuta. Leach. 



In travelling from Bluefields to Savannah le Mar, 

 we save about two miles by taking what is called 

 the Short Cut, a bridle-path through the deep 

 matted woods. The trees are largely sweet- wood, 

 tangled, near the edges of the broad morass, which 

 occupies so m.uch of this plain, by spreading bushes 

 of black-withe and cockspur. Two streams are to 

 be forded, the one a sluggish water that crosses 

 the path immediately on our entering the woods, 

 the other is the deep and rapid Sweet River. After 



* Length 6 inches, expanse 8^, flexure 2^, tail 1^, rictus j^, bare 

 portion of tibia -5^, tarsus 1, middle toe 1^. Irides brick-red ; beak 

 dark olive, edges at base paler green ; legs and feet clay-colour. Fore- 

 head, crown, and occiput black, softening at the sides and nape; a black 

 band from rictus passes through the eye, above which is a band of white, 

 interrupted by black immediately over the eje. Sides of head and 

 neck, yellowish-ash, blending with the black. Back, shoulders, sca- 

 pulars, and loins yellowish- umber, each feather deepening in the centre to 

 dark brown, with a conspicuous stripe of pure white running through the 

 middle of the terminal half. Wing-coverts yellowish-brown ; the greater 

 coverts and the tertiaries have dark centres, and terminal white spots. 

 Primaries and secondaries greyish black. Tail coverts black, with broad 

 spots and tips of white; tail as the tertiaries. Chin, throat, and whole 

 under parts white, slightly tinged on the breast with buff. Sides, flanks, 

 under-tail-coverts, and outer part of thighs, marked with transverse bands 

 of black and white. 



