172 HALLID.E. 



Coloration. Head, neck, and lower parts dark slaty grey, darker 

 on the crown and nape, paler and ashy on the sides of the head 

 and throat ; upper parts from the neck rufous brown ; primaries 

 and secondaries dark brown ; tail black. 



Bill glaucous green, with a slight tinge of red near base of 

 mandibles and tipped grey ; irides crimson-red ; orbits red ; legs 

 pale dullish vermilion (Godivin-Austen). 



Length 8-5; tail 2; wing 4-5 ; tarsus 1-5 ; bill from gape 1-1. 



Distribution. Elwes and Mandelli obtained this Rail in the valleys 

 of Sikhim at from 4000 to 6000 fee^ and Godwin-Austen found 

 it on the Khasi hills at a similar elevation. Hume saw what was 

 probably this species in Manipur. 



Habits, $c. Grass around marshy pools and swamps and irrigated 

 rice-fields are the places where this Rail has been found. It 

 probably descends to lower levels than those above quoted in 

 summer. An egg, presumably of this species, brought to Godwin- 

 Austen, measured 1'4 by 1 and was creamy white, spotted, chiefly 

 towards the larger end, with pale grey and light and dark sepia. 



1400. Amaurornis akool. The Brown Crake. 



Rail us akool, SyJces, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 1C4. 



Porzana akool, Blyth, Cat. p. 284 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, pp. 722, 875 ; 

 Adam, S. F. i, p. 398 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 21 ; v, p. 224 ; ix, 

 p. 431 ; Godiu.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xlvii, pt. 2, p. 21 ; Ball, S. F. 

 vii, p. 229 ; Hume, ibid. p. 489 ; id. Cat. no. 908 ; Hume $ Marsh. 

 Game B. ii, p. 225, pi. ; iii, p. 435, pi. iii (egg) ; Davidson, S. F. 

 x, p. 322 ; Macgregor, ibid. p. 441 ; Taylor, ibid. p. 466 ; Swinhoe 

 Barnes, Ibis, 1885, p. 135; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 369; Hume, 

 S. F. xi, p. 328 ; Gates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 296 ; 

 Barnes, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. vi, p. 139, pi. at p. 129 (egg). 



Amaurornis akool, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 155. 



Coloration. Upper parts uniform dark olive; quills and tail- 

 feathers dark brown, olive on the exposed portions ; sides of head, 

 including the supercilia, and the lower parts ashy grey, passing 

 into white on the throat and chin and into brown on the flanks 

 and lower tail-coverts. 



Young birds appear to moult into the adult plumage from the 

 downy stage. Some young birds from. Saugor in the Hume 

 collection, though nearly full-grown, retain some black down on 

 the head ; one of these is figured in Hume and Marshall's ' Game 

 Birds.' 



Bill greenish ; irides red-brown ; legs and feet fleshy brown or 

 livid purple (Jerdon). 



Length of males 11; tail 2'5 : wing 5; tarsus 2; bill from 

 gape 1*5. Females are rather smaller. 



Distribution. Resident throughout Northern India, commonest 

 along the base of the Himalayas, rare in Bengal and the plains 

 generally. This Rail has been recorded from several parts of 

 Central India and the Central Provinces, S.E. Bengal, Rajputaua, 

 the Deccan, and Mysore, but not from the Western Punjab or 



