LITTLE CRAKE. 199 



J. Composed of grass, dry and green intermixed, placed above water- 

 level, in a bush growing in the water of a lake or swamp. 



Eggs. Five ; the ground-colour is of a light olive-brown, with dark reddish- 

 brown spots, more plentiful at the larger end, but not forming a distinct ring, some 

 of the marking appear as if beneath the surface. At the larger end there are, in 

 each egg, a few round, almost black spots. Measurements 31 by 23 mm. 



Breeding -season. August to December. 



Distribution and forms. Southern Australia only. Two subspecies have been 

 separated : P. /. fluminea Gould from New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania ; 

 and P. f. whitei Mathews from Eyre's Peninsula, South Australia and South-west 

 Australia, a paler race noticeably on the under-surface. 



Genus ZAPORNIA. 



Zapornia Stephens, in Shaw's Gen. Zool., Vol. XII., pt. I., p. 230, 1824. Type (by monotypy) ; 



Z. pusilla = Rallus parvus Scopoli. 



Zaporina Forster, Synopt. Cat. Brit. Birds, pp. 27, 59, Dec. 1817 : Nom. nudunl. 



Phalaridion Kaup, Skizz. Entwick.-Gesch. Nat. Syst., p. 173, (pref. April) 1829. Type (by 



subsequent designation Gray, Gen. Birds, Vol. III., p. 593, Nov. 1846) : O. minuta = Rallus 



parvus Scopoli. 



Rallites Pucheran, Rev. Zool., 1845, p. 277 (for Aug., publ. in Sept.). Type (by subsequent 



designation) : R. parvus Scopoli. 



Small Rails with slender bills, short wings, short tail and weak legs and long toes. 

 The bill is shorter and much more slender than that of Porzana, the under mandible 

 weaker, the gonys less marked ; the upper not much swollen at base of culmen 

 ridge but more laterally compressed. The wing is short and more rounded, the 

 first primary short, the second equal to the fifth, the third and fourth longest, the 

 inner secondaries long. The tail similarly formed is longer, being more than half 

 the length of the wing. The legs are slender and the toes thinner and longer, the 

 hind -toe very long ; claws very long. 



Coloration like the preceding generally but paler. 



137. Zapornia pusilla. LITTLE CRAKE. 



[Rallus pusillus Pallas, Reise Russ. Reichs, Vol. III., p. 700, (pref. 10th Feb., O.S.) 1776. 

 Dauria, Siberia. Extra-limital.] 



Gould, Vol. VI., pi. 80 (pt. x.), March 1st, 1843. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 4, pi. 52, Aug. 9th 

 1911. 



Porzana palusiris Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1842, p. 139, Feb. 1843 : Tasmania. 

 Porzana pusilla fitzroyi Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., pt. 3, p. 73, June 28th, 1912 : 

 Derby, North-west Australia. 



DISTRIBUTION. Australia generally (?) and Tasmania. 



Adult male. General colour above tawny-brown, duller on the head, which is 

 mottled or spotted, with black centres to the feathers, more sparsely on the nape 

 and hind -neck ; mantle and back black, as well as the scapulars, the feathers mostly 

 edged with tawny-brown or white, and having subterminal spots or streaks of white, 

 producing a freckled appearance ; upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers tawny-brown, 

 with black centres and white spots or bars ; wing-coverts tawny -brown, the greater 

 series with white, black-edged spots or bars near the ends ; bastard -wing brown, 

 with white on the outer margin ; primary -coverts and quills dark brown, the first 

 primary edged with white ; the long inner secondaries black, with tawny-brown 

 borders and broken bars of white ; eyebrow, sides of face and sides of neck, slate-grey, 

 becoming paler on the chin, throat and middle of breast and abdomen ; sides of 

 body and flanks, and under tail-coverts regularly barred with black and white ; 

 thighs uniform slaty -grey, paler internally ; under wing-coverts dusky-brown, with 



