RALLIED. 



from middle of breast, including the wing-lining, black with white 

 cross-bars. 



Bill a delicate pale chrysoprase green ; irides red ; legs and feet 

 olive-green ( Wimberley}. 



Length 13-5 ; tail 3-3 ; wing 6-25 ; tarsus 2'1 ; bill from gape 1-4. 



Distribution. The Andaman Islands. 



Habits , $c. A forest bird, haunting swampy ground and the 

 neighbourhood of hill-streams, and feeding on insects and fresh- 

 water Crustacea. A nest of grass loosely rolled together, with 6 

 eggs, was taken on July 17th and brought to Mr. de Roepstorff. 

 The eggs are pinkish, streaked and blotched, chiefly at the larger 

 end, with chestnut and purple, and measure on an average 1/4 by 

 1-09. 



Genus AMAURORNIS, Eeichenb., 1852. 



The members of this genus are distinguished from both Porzana 

 and GaUinula by having a more rounded wing, with the 3rd quill 

 longest, the 2nd equal to the oth or 6th, and the 1st much shorter. 

 The species are also distinguished at once from Porzana by very 

 different and much more uniform plumage. The bill is of moderate 

 length, much shorter than the tarsus, which is shorter than the 

 middle toe and claw. 



The type of the genus, A. olivaceus, a Philippine species, has the 

 upper mandible slightly swollen at the base, and the same is the 

 case in A. phwnicurus { but in coloration A. olivaceus is perfectly 

 intermediate between A. phosnicurus and A. akool, which cannot be 

 separated from A.fuscus and A. bicolor. The difference in the bill 

 appears scarcely sufficient to justify generic separation, though, 

 if a division is made, A. licolor and A. akool should, I think, be 

 referred to Limnobcenus, of which A. fuscus is the type. 



The genus Amaurornis, as here accepted, ranges throughout the 

 Oriental region to North Australia. Four species are Indian. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Breast grey or rufous ; bill not swollen at 



base. 

 a'. Breast in adults vinous chestnut, in young 



dark olive , A.fuscus, p. 170. 



b'. Breast dark grey. 



a" . Back rufous "brown A. bicolor, p. 171. 



b". Back dark olive A. akool, p. 172. 



I. Breast white ; bill swollen at base A. pha-nicurus, p. 173. 



1398. Amaurornis fuscus. The Ruddy Crake. 



Baling fuecus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 262 (1766). 



Zapornia flammicepe, Hodgs. in Grays Zool. Misc. p. 86 (1844, 



descr. nulla). 

 Porzana fusca, Blyth, Cat. p. 285 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 724; Slytk, 



Ibis, 1867, p. 171 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xliii, pt. 3, p. 175 ; 



