ASSAM, SYLHET AND CACHAR. 329 



Burmah, but is everywhere I believe scarce, -and its skulking 

 habits have hitherto prevented our gaining any very accurate 

 knowledge of its distribution. 



Again there is 911. — Porzana fmca, Lin., which Godwin- 

 Austen procured at Shillong, but which I failed to find in 

 Manipur, and of the occurrence of which in Assam, Sylhet or 

 Cachar I know nothing further. 



[I measured only one specimen, but noticed numbers about 

 the Dibrugarh district when travelling about. The one I got was 

 shot in July, as he flew off the nest, which contained three slightly 

 incubated eggs. The nest was a mere pad of dry grass, rest- 

 ing on the water, which was a foot deep ; grass 18 inches 

 high grew all round this damp water meadow, which skirted 

 one side of the tea garden. 



Male. — Length, 8-50 ; expanse, 12 25 ; tail, 170 ; wing, 3 95 ; 

 tarsus, 1"45 ; bill from gape, 103 ; weight, 2 25ozs. 



Irides crimson; legs and feet pinkish vermilion; orbital 

 ring bright red ; bill horny brown. — J, R. C] 



This species has been sent from Arakan, and in Pegu appears 

 to be generally distributed if not common, but it does not, 

 so far as I yet know, extend to Tenasserim. 



Although I cannot include it in ray Manipur list, I am quite 

 sure that once near the base of the Eastern hills, below Tankool 

 Hoondoong, at an elevation of about 3,500 feet, I saw 9116/5. — 

 Porzana bicolor, Wald. I was walking along a marshy path 

 about four feet wide through high reed grass, bulrushes, &c,, 

 when two Rails darted across the path within a yard of my feet. 

 I hunted long and vainly for them, but never saw them again ; 

 still my eyes were fixed on the very spot they crossed at 

 the moment they appeared, and personally I feel sure of 

 the species. Godwin -Austen procured this species at Shillong, 

 but this is all we know of its occurrence in Assam, Sylhet and 

 Cachar, and there is no reason to suppose that it extends to 

 British Burmah. 



913. — Hsrpotsenidia striata, Lin. 



I only once met with this species in Manipur, and that was 

 near Sagam at the extreme south of the basin. I caught 

 sight of something in the early morning moving in some thin 

 rush, a large rat as I thought, fired and discovered it was 

 a Blue-breasted Banded Rail. I think it must be very rare, 

 for not one of the Manipuris or Nagas— -and I showed it to 

 the whole village — recognized it, 



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