KALLID^ OETYGOMETKA 249 



South-west Africa — Damaraland (Eriksson) ; Portuguese East Africa 

 — at sea, twenty miles off the mouth of the Limpopo Eiver (S. A. 

 Mus.), Tete, on the Zambesi (Peters). 



Habits. — This scarce Crake is found in marshy places, where it 

 lives on worms and aquatic insects ; little has been recorded about 

 its habits. Mr. Marshall gives me the following note : " This species 

 was first brought to my notice by Mr. Swynnerton, who shot one on 

 the Makabusi Eiver, quite close to Salisbury. Since then I have 

 seen two more examples, and they are probably not uncommon, as 

 on one wet day I heard them calling in some numbers in a 

 dense and impenetrable reed-bed, lower down the Makahusi. The 

 stomach of Mr. Swynnerton's specimen contained ants and some 

 vegetable matter." 



Mr. A. D. Millar tells me that this Eail is not uncommon in 

 the marshes about Durban, generally sohtary, but sometimes in 

 pairs, but that they are always difficult to flush even with dogs. Mr. 

 Alfred Millar shot a female off the nest on November 18th ; in the 

 nest were three pink eggs, while a fourth, rather more brightly 

 coloured, was found in the oviduct of the bird itself. 



Genus III. ORTYGOMETRA. ' 



Type. 



Ortygometra, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mavim. Bds. Bt. Mies. 



p. 34 (1816) 0. parva. 



Porzana, Vieillot, Analyse, p. 61 (1816) 0. porzana. 



Bill of moderate length and rather compressed, the culmen about 

 two-thirds the length of the tarsus ; nostrils oval ; no frontal shield ; 

 wings less rounded than in the other genera, the secondaries falling 

 short of the primaries by about the length of the hind toe and 

 claw ; tarsus distinctly shorter than the middle toe and claw ; toes 

 not webbed. 



Some fourteen species of this almost cosmopolitan genus have 

 been hitherto recognised ; two of these occur in South Africa. 



Key of the Species. 



A. Larger, wing about 5-0 ; bill yellow, breast spotted 0. ponana, p. 250. 



B. Smaller, wing about 3'5 ; bUl dark green, breast 



unspotted 0. ptisilla, p. 251. 



