CICONID^E. 373 



(including the quills and tail) olivaceous throughout, with nar- 

 row white, black-edged bars ; beneath, the chin and throat 

 whitish ; the neck, breast, and upper abdomen, bluish-grey ; the 

 lower abdomen, vent, under tail-coverts, and thigh-coverts, dull 

 olivaceous, with white bands. 



The Blue-breasted Banded Rail is a not uncommon seasonal 

 visitant to portions of the Deccan ; it breeds during August and 

 September. It does not occur in Sind, neither has it been record- 

 ed from Guzerat. 



GENUS, Rallus, Lin. 



With longer bills than Hypotcenidia. 



Rallus indicus, Blyth. 



914 Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 726; Swinhoe and 

 Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 135. 



THE INDIAN WATER RAIL. 



Length, 10'5 to 12 ; expanse, 15 to 1675 ; wing, 45 to 5 ; tail, 

 2 to 2-8; tarsus, T55 to 175 ; bill at front, T5 to 175; bill 

 from gape, 1'6 to 1'9. 



Bill horny-brown ; basal half of upper mandible and basal 

 two-thirds of lower mandible orange-red ; irides red to red-brown ; 

 legs brownish-pink to fleshy-brown. 



Above olive-brown, with black central streaks ; a dark streak 

 below the eye, continued back over the ear-coverts ; lesser-coverts 

 with a few white marks ; throat whitish ; cheeks, foreneck, breast, 

 and upper abdomen, brownish-ashy ; lower belly reddish-brown ; 

 flanks black with white bands ; lower tail-coverts mixed white, 

 rufous, and black ; quills and tail dusky-brown, the feathers 

 of the last edged paler. 



The Indian Water Rail is, I believe, a very rare and uncertain 

 winter visitant to Central India. I have seen it twice at the 

 Panghur Lake, and I think I saw it once at Gungrar. I cannot 

 find any record of its occurrence within our limits. 



TRIBE, Cultirostres. 



Bill thick, stout, "pointed, slightly curved in some ; tarsus 

 elongated ; feet moderately large ; hind-toe large, on the same 

 plane as the anterior toes ; wings ample ; tail short, mostly of 

 large or moderate size. 



FAMILY, Ciconidae. 



Bill very large and stout, lengthened, straight, or slightly ascend- 

 ing, and with the lower mandible sub-recurved, smooth, without 

 a groove, less cleft than in the Herons ; nostrils linear, near the 

 base of the culmen ; wings long, second and third or third and 

 fourth quills longest ; tail short ; tarsus usually reticulate with 

 hexagonal scales ; all the anterior toes joined at the base by 

 membrane ; hallux resting on the ground for part of its length ; 

 claws blunt. 



