FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE SOUTH KONKAN. 87 



Latterly they have almost entirely deserted their old haunts. 

 For two years not a single Coot was to be seen. This year, 

 1879-80, which has beeu a moderately good season for all 

 aquatic birds, I found a few pairs again established on the 

 Vashishti. 



905— Gallinula chloropus, Lin. 



| Chiplun. | 



I shot a pair of Water Hens in a tank near Chiplun last year. 

 One or two are usually to be seen on any secluded pond over- 

 grown with lilies and sedge. 



907.— Erythra phsenicura, Penn. 



Kelshi. I Muhapral. 



I Savant Vadi. | 



Common throughout the tract, both in the mangrove swamps 

 that fringe the larger creeks, and in irrigated garden lands. 

 Breeds during the rains. 



910.— Porzana bailloni, Vieill. 



Ratnagiri. | Chiplun. | 



Flushed occasionally in Snipe grounds and on the margins 

 of tanks from Ratnagiri northwards. Hitherto I have seen 

 no specimens to the south, but don't doubt its occurrence there 

 also. 



911*— Porzana fusca. 



I am rather doubtful as to the propriety of entering this 

 species in a list which, if inaccurate, is worse than useless. One 

 day, however, I saw, while passing in a canoe by a narrow 

 tidal gullet through a mangrove swamp at Ade, a little Red- 

 cheeked Rail, which I felt sure must have been Porzana fusca. 



As I was at the time intent on following a wily Otter I let 

 it pass. Returning shortly afterwards the little skulker was 

 nowhere to be found, and as usually happens when one par- 

 ticularly wants to verify a doubtful point, I have been unable 

 to find the species again. 



913.— Hypotsenidia striata, Lin. 



Peve. I Chiplun. 



Malvun. 



'60th March 1879, Male.— -Wing, 4| ; bill, If ; tail, 1| ; mid 

 toe and claw, If. Irides red; legs greenish; bill dusky above, 

 reddish below. 



I passed several years in the district before I came across 

 this species. Last year I found a small colony in a mangrove 



