794 GALLICREX CINEKEA. 



" Taylor, in his ' Topography of Dacca/ states that the voice of this bird, before engaging in combat, is 

 peculiar ; the throat swells out and emits a deep hollow sound, which is continued for several seconds, and is 

 suddenly followed by a shrill, vibratory cry like that of the Trumpeter Birds (Psophia) of South America. 

 Like many of the Rails it is partially nocturnal in its habits. The male birds are said to fight furiously, and 

 are much prized by the natives, who keep them for that purpose, especially in Dacca, Sylhet, &c. It is 

 excellent eating, and according to a writer in the ' Indian Sporting Review,' ' the flesh, feather, and courage 

 of the Kora are all game.' " 



Mr. Cripps, however, states (Str. Fcath. ii. p. 531) that they are kept rather for the purpose of catching 

 wild ones. He writes :—" When a wild one is heard calling, the tame bird being let loose finds him out, 

 and grappling keeps hold until the owner comes up and catches both. I know two zemindars in the Tipperah 

 who are enthusiasts at this." 



The same writer likewise affirms that the natives of the Dacca and Tipperah districts often themselves hatch 

 the eggs of this species. " The modus operandi," he observes, " is to take half a cocoanut-shell, put a layer 

 of cotton in, on top of which they place the egg and fill up with cotton ; the shell is then placed on the man's 

 stomach and tied on with a long strip of cloth, which is wound round his body. Until the egg is hatched the 

 man never bathes." 



Nidification. — The Watercock breeds in the south of Ceylon in July and August, nesting in wild 

 localities in the interior. I had two eggs brought to me by a native in the Hinedun Pattuwa on the 16th of 

 August, 1872, as belonging to the "Willi-kukulu" and I afterwards identified them as such. They are small 

 for the size of the bird, narrow ovals in shape, very nearly the same at both ends, and very handsome. The 

 ground-colour is creamy white, marked at the large end with brownish red, mixed with a few specks of bluish 

 grey. In one egg the brownish red is in the form of blotches running in the direction of the axis, and 

 confluent all over the end, forming a large cap of an almost uniform colour ; in the other the coloration is in 

 the form of a broad zone, having a very small pale centre. The smaller end is quite devoid of markings. 

 They measure L62 by 1T3 inch, and 1"57 by L13 respectively. 



Mr. Mac Vicar found a nest at Bolgodde in long grass ; it was built of rushes and grass, and was a 

 massive structure. There were two eggs only in the nest, of a reddish-white ground-colour, freckled over the 

 whole surface with light red and reddish brown over small spots of faded lilac or bluish grey; at the large 

 end the markings were confluent, especially in one specimen. They measured L52 by IT and T58 by 

 114 inch respectively. 



In Lower Bengal and in Burmah it breeds in July and August. Mr. Hume describes nests found in 

 the former region as sometimes large Coot-like structures, made of flags and rice-straw, and placed in the 

 middle of a dense tangled mass of reeds, rush, and water-weeds ; and at other times comparatively slight 

 nests of fine rush and grass on the floating leaves of Lotus and Singhara (Trapa bispinosa). 



The ground-colour of the eggs is noted as pale yellowish or stone-colour, sometimes with a faint 

 greenish tinge, occasionally almost white, thickly blotched and streaked with brownish red or slightly reddish 

 brown and purple, or even deep red. As in the specimens above noticed, the markings are confluent at the 

 obtuse cud in most; but in some the whole surface is freckled. The smallest of Mr. Hume's series measures 

 l"58 by 1T2 inch ; but he gives the average of a dozen as 1'7 by 1'27 inch. 



