398 KALLID^E. 



the eggs. 1 thiiik it was about the end of June that, as my meii 

 and I were inspecting the islets in this Dhussain Eiver for eggs, 

 four nearly half-fledged brown Rails, of one family no doubt, sud- 

 denly dropped from an islet, where they were secreted, into the 

 river. We gave immediate chase and surrounded them, but they 

 baffled us in the grass and rush-clumps and mysteriously disap- 

 peared. We searched the islet and every likely hiding-place for 

 them without success ; at last spying a hole, about a foot in diame- 

 ter in the left bank just above the water edge, I told one of the 

 men to insert his arm in it, and to our utter astonishment he brought 

 out, one after the other, the four young birds. How they all 

 managed to elude us, and find their way to this supposed place of 

 security, passes comprehension. 



" I suspect four is the maximum number of eggs laid." 



Colonel Butler found numerous nests of this Rail at Milana near 

 Deesa, from the 22nd August to the 28th September, and he is of 

 opinion that these birds lay twice in the year, viz. in July and 

 in September. The nests were mostly built in bushes overhanging 

 the water, in bulrushes or tussocks of long grass or in dead thorns. 

 They were substantially built of sedge, and in many cases the sedges 

 were drawn up over the nest so as to form a canopy. The num- 

 ber of eggs varied from 4 to 8 in each nest. 



Erom Sikhim Mr. Grammie writes : " A specimen of the Brown 

 Crake, with three eggs, was brought to me in the first week in June. 

 The statement of the native who brought it is, that he shot the 

 bird while actually sitting on her eggs and smashed the fourth egg ; 

 that the nest was in the Terai, near the foot of the hills, and was 

 made of rough grasses and placed a foot or two from the ground, 

 in the middle of a grassy bush growing in a small marsh." 



The egg of this species, though somewhat larger, strongly re- 

 minds us of that of the English Water-Rail. The eggs are very 

 perfect ovals, only slightly compressed towards one end ; and the 

 shells, though fine, are almost entirely destitute of gloss. The 

 ground-colour is nearly pure white, with however, when quite fresh, 

 a faint tinge, in some of salmon-pink, in others of yellow, which, 

 however, generally disappears after the eggs have been kept a few 

 months. The markings are streaky blotches and spots, usually 

 very dense at the large end, but thinly scattered elsewhere. In 

 colour they are purplish or brownish red, and somewhat pale purple, 

 the latter seeming to underlie the former in clouds and streaks, 



The eggs, of which I have, however, but few specimens, vary 

 from 1*4 to 1*57 in length, and from 0*99 to 1'15 in breadth ; but 

 the average of sixteen eggs is 1*49 by 1*1. 



Rallina canning! (Tytl.). The Andaman Banded Crake. 

 Rallina canning! (Tytl.}, Hume, Cat. no. 912 ter. 



Erom the Andamans, Mr. E. A. de Roepstorff kindly sent me the 

 eggs of this species, together with the parent bird, with the follow- 

 ing note : " On the 17th of July a convict, who was out cutting 



