370 BALLING. 



four to eight in number ; they are oval in shape, slightly com- 

 pressed at one end ; the texture of the shell is fine, but they have 

 scarcely any gloss ; the ground color is white, with a scarcely 

 noticeable tinge of salmon-pink, which is very evanescent ; the 

 markings consist of streaks and spots of purplish or brownish- 

 red, with occasional underlying blotches of pale purple. They 

 measure 1'49 inches in length by T09 in breadth. 



Porzana maruetta, Leach. 



909. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 722 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. V, p. 215 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 

 IX, p. 432 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 264. 



THE SPOTTED CRAKE. 



Length, 87 to 9'2 ; expanse, 14'5 to 157 j wing, 4'3 to 4'8 ; 

 tail, 1-85 to 2-1 ; tarsus, 1*21 to 1'43; bill from gape, 077 to 09; 

 weight, 3 to 4 oz. 



The tip of the lower and the greater part of the upper mandi- 

 ble dusky olive-green ; the basal two-thirds of lower mandible 

 and a band at base of the upper one wax-yellow with an orange 

 tinge on culmen, and a red spot at the base of the maxilla on 

 either side ; irides reddish-brown ; legs and feet generally bright 

 olive-green. This is Mr. Hume's description of the soft parts. 

 Jerdon's is much shorter, as follows : Bill greenish-yellow, orange, 

 at the base ; irides red-brown ; legs and feet bright yellowish- 

 green. 



Crown, back, scapulars, and rump, olive-brown, blotched with 

 dusky, and all the feathers, except those of the head, elegantly 

 spotted and streaked with white ; forehead and eyestreak ash- 

 grey, the latter speckled with white ; nape thickly spotted with 

 black and white ; cheeks cinereous, speckled with black ; wing- 

 coverts olive-brown, sparingly spotted with white ; quills brown ; 

 throat ash-grey ; forepart of the neck and breast pale olivaceous, 

 tinged with ashy-grey and spotted with white ; belly and vent 

 ashy- white ; flanks with transverse bars of white, black, and 

 olivaceous-brown. 



The Spotted Crake occurs as a more or less common cold wea- 

 ther visitant to all parts of the district. 



Porzana bailloni, Fieill. 



910. P. pygmcea, Naum. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, 

 p. 723; Butler, Guzerat; Stray Feathers, Vol. V, p. 215; 

 Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 432 ; Murray's Vertebrate 

 Zoology of Sind, p. 264 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; 

 Ibis, 1885, p. 135. 



BAILLON'S CRAKE. 



Length, 6'62 to 775 ; expanse, 10 to 1175 ; wing, 3'12 to 37 ; 

 tail, 1 75 to 2-2 ; tarsus, 1'05 to 1'25 ; bill from gape, 0'68 to 078 ; 

 weight, 1*1 to 1-8 oz. 



