710 PORZANA 



white, marked with a few greyish shell-spots, and with reddish 

 brown surface-markings, which are more numerous on the 

 basal portion ; in size they measure about 1*04 by 0*79. 



991. RUDDY CRAKE. 

 PORZANA FUSCA. 



Porzana fusca (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 262 (1766) ; (Sharpe), Cat. B. Br. 

 Mus. xxiii. p. 146 ; (Blanf.), F. Brit. Ind. Birds, iv. p. 170 j (See- 

 bohm), B. Jap. Emp. p. 357 ; P. erythrothorax\(Temm. and Schleg.), 

 Faun. Jap. Aves, p. 121, pi. 78 (1850) ; David and Oust. Ois. Chine, 

 p. 486. 



Hi-Jcuina, Jap. 



<J ad. (Japan). Upper parts dark brownish olive, browner on the 

 rump, upper tail-coverts, and inner secondaries ; quills and tail dark 

 brown ; forehead, sides of head, neck, and under parts vinous chestnut ; 

 flanks and abdomen olivaceous brown, the abdomen and lower flanks 

 streaked with white ; under tail-coverts blackish margined with white ; 

 bill greenish brown ; legs red ; iris crimson ; eyelids plumbeous, the edges 

 red. Culmen 0'9, wing 4'0, tail 2'0, tarsus 1'3 inch. Sexes alike, but the 

 young bird is dusky olivaceous, the chin, throat, and middle of abdomen 

 whitish. 



Hob. India, Ceylon, Burma, China, and Japan, south in 

 winter to the Malay Peninsula, Java, and the Philippines. 



Frequents damp, rush-covered places and ponds, and feeds 

 on insects and seeds. It swims like a Moorhen and has a soft 

 call. It breeds in India from July to September, and in Japan 

 from early in June to the middle of August, and places its 

 nest, which is constructed of rushes and weeds, amongst the 

 rushes, grass, or wild rice, very little above the surface of the 

 water. The eggs, from 4 to 6 in number, are pinky or creamy 

 white, streaked, spotted, and blotched with reddish brown 

 surface markings and inky purple shell blotches which are 

 more dense at the larger end. In size they measure about 

 1-2 by 0-84 



992. SIBERIAN RUDDY CRAKE. 



PORZANA PAYKULLI. 



Porzana payJculli (Ljungh), Kungl. Vet. Akad. Handl. 1813, p. 259, 

 tab. v. ; (Sharpe), Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxiii. p. 149 ; P. mandarwa, 

 Swinhoe, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 4th Series, v. p. 173 (1870) ; 

 (David and Oust), Ois. Chine, p. 488, pi. 123 ; (Tacz.), F. 0. Sib. 0. 

 p. 995 ; P. erythrothorax (nee. T. and S.) ; (Radde), Sib. Keise, ii. 

 p. 309 (1863). 



