OF THE TRAVANCORE HILLS. 405 
and are not easily shot, for unless put up by a well-trained dog 
they run right away when approached. I have several times 
had eges brought tome by the hillmen, which they declared 
were the eggs ‘of Jungle Fowl, and I once saw a nest containing 
three slightly set eggs in the "middle of March. The nest was 
a mere depression in the ground under a tuft of grass at the 
edge of an irul thicket. The eggs which were very similar 
to those of an ordinary hen measured 141,75 of an inch.— 
Be Wi Ere 
912.—Porzana ceylonica, Gel, 
“JT know nothing of the habits of this bird: a single speci- 
men having been procured by Mr. Ferguson in some paddy- 
fields near the foot of the hills at about 400 feet elevation. 
—F. W. B.” 
I long ago pointed out, Vol. I. p. 440, that Mr. Blyth’s P, 
amauroptera was merely the female of this species; Dr. Jerdon 
had described the male, but not the female. It may be as well to 
mention that the female differs in being smaller than the male, 
in having the breast a duller and browner ferruginous chestnut, 
and by having this colour replaced on the whole of the top of 
the head, occiput and nape, by a brown, uniform with the back, 
and on the cheeks, ear coverts, and sides of the neck by a much 
paler and more earthy brown. 
The only chestnut on the head of the female is a band run- 
ning from the top of the eye over the lores to the forehead. 
The feathers bounding the white throat are generally some- 
what rufescent, and “the earthy brown on the sides of the neck 
has also at times a faint rusty tinge. I have not as yet secured 
sufficient specimens to make certain that old females do not 
assume the plumage or nearly the plumage of the adult males. 
Ido not think that this is the case, but it may be so. Again, 
I am not certain that the young male is not at one stage similar 
to the female above described, but I think it likely. I have 
only two, now at hand, adult males and an apparently adult 
female, sexed by dissection ; the female which I have above de- 
scribed was probably adult, having been shot in company with 
one of the males. 
931.—Butorides javanica, Horsf. 
No specimen received,— 
“This bird is a winter visitor. It is very silent and solitary. 
During the months of November to March it is to be found 
among r the rocks of the larger streams up to about 2,000 feet 
elevation, and always in dense jungle.—F’, W. B.” 
ALO. 
