246 GRUIFORMES 



CHAP. 



exceptionally at the height of a few feet in a tree or bush. Rails 

 and Crakes make a more or less substantial fabric in sedges, 

 grass, clover, and so forth, Creciscus and Porzanula a spherical mass 

 with an entrance at the side ; but Pareudiastes, Cabalus, and Ocy- 

 dromus are stated to breed in most cases in burrows. Gallicrex 

 occasionally fashions its nest on floating leaves, and the writer has 

 seen a Moor-Hen's nest in a similar situation. The eggs, from two 

 to ten or more in number, are generally white or cream-coloured 

 with red-brown, olive, or blackish markings, and often with faint 

 lilac spots ; those of the Coot are stone-drab with small black 

 specks ; those of Cabalus modestus are white with a few indistinct 

 rufous and grey flecks ; those of Zapornia parva and Porzana 

 'bailloni are instances of a thick olive-brown mottling. The adults 

 are stated sometimes to carry their young in their claws. 



Exceptionally the plumage of the Rallidae is nearly black, as 

 in Limnocorax, Fulica, and Habroptila ; slightly browner, as in 

 Oallinula ; blue or greenish-blue as in PorpJiyrio : but the 

 coloration is normally sober, with a tendency to olive, brown, 

 or chestnut. This may be relieved by stripes of white, especially 

 on the flanks ; the under parts may be nearly red as in Creciscus 

 levraudi ; and both surfaces may be spotted with white as in the 

 male of CoretJirura pulchra, or flecked and barred with it, as in 

 Rallus maculatus. The sexes are usually alike, but Rallicula, 

 Zapornia, Gallicrex, and Corethrura are instances of the contrary. 



Space, however, is wanting to give in detail a description of 

 every form, which is the less necessary in view of their general 

 similarity ; but the following examples will enable a fair idea 

 to be gained of the group. 



Rallus aquaticus, the Water Rail of Europe and Central Asia, 

 which winters in North-West India and North Africa, is olive- 

 brown above with darker streaks, and lead-coloured below, the 

 flanks being barred with black and white. The genus is found 

 in most parts of the world, with the apparent exception of 

 North-West Africa and the Australian Region. Rallus elegans, 

 the King-Rail, R. longirostris (crepitans), the Clapper-Rail, and 

 R. virginianus are well-known North American species, while R. 

 madagascariensis is confined to Madagascar. 



In Hypotaenidia, which ranges from India and South China 

 to the Pacific Islands generally, the whole lower parts are barred 

 with black and white, except in H. striata and H. mulleri, where 



