I'ULICARI^. 359 



smaller species, C. mandarina (wing 5 inches), with a chestnut hreast 

 (David and Oustalet, Ois. de la Chine, pi. 123) ; and in the Philip- 

 pine Islands by an equally small species, C fasciata, with pale bands 

 across the quills and wing-coverts. 



364. RALLUS AQUATICUS. 



(WATER-KAIL.) 



HaUiis aquaticus, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 262 (1766). 



The Water-Rail is a medium-sized bird (wing from carpal joint 

 5^ to 5 inches) . Its bill is longer than its head, and the feathers of 

 the upper parts are bufiBsh brown, with nearly black centres. 



Figures : Hume and Marshall, Game-Birds of India, Burmah, and 

 Ceylon, ii. p. 257 (Eastern race). 



The Indian form of the Water-Rail is a resident in all the Japa- 

 nese Islands. There is an example in the Swinhoe collection from 

 Hakodadi (Swinhoe, Ibis, 1874, p. 163), and there are ten examples 

 in the Pryer collection from Yokohama. Mr. Ringer has sent 

 examples to the Norwich Museum from Nagasaki, where those 

 procured by the Siebold Expedition were probably also obtained 

 (Temminck and Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Aves, p. 122). 



The breeding-range of the Water- Rail extends from the British 

 Islands across Europe to Chinese Turkestan ; and probably inosculates 

 with that of the Eastern form of this species, which extends from 

 Eastern Siberia and Japan to China, Burma, and India. 



" The Eastern form of the Water- Rail is, on an average, slightly 

 larger than the Western race : the slate-grey on the underparts is 

 always more or less suffused with brown, the dark brown of the lores 

 extends also below and behind the eye, and the under tail-coverts are 

 more barred with black ; but no one of these characters is always 

 constant " (Seebohm, British Birds, ii. p. 553) . It was described as 

 a distinct species in 1849 (Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xviii. p. 820), 

 but it can scarcely be regarded as more than subspepifically distinct, 

 and may be distinguished as Rallus aquaticus indicus. 



The Rails are very closely allied to the Crakes, but differ from them 

 in having the bill longer instead of shorter than the head. The 

 Rails are almost cosmopolitan, but the Crakes are confined to the 

 Old World. 



