396 EAILIDJE. 



dusky clouds and streaks, which in all the eggs that I have seen were 

 most densely set towards the large end. The dusky markings in 

 some eggs are a sort of pale sepia, but in others have a distinctly 

 purplish tinge. They appear, however, to be at all times duU, in- 

 conspicuous, and ill-defined. The eggs vary in length from I'l to 

 1-22, and in breadth from 0-83 to 0-91. 



Porzana fusca (Linn:). The Ruddy Grcike. 



Porzana fusca (Linn,), Jm-d. B. Ind. ii, p. 724. 



Rallina fusca (Linn.), Hume, Sough Draft N. ^- E. no. 911. 



The Euddy Crake, so far as my experience is concerned, is almost 

 exclusively confined to the moister portions of the Empire where 

 the rainfall exceeds 40 inches. Dr. Jerdon says, " It is not very 

 common in the south but is more abundant in the north ; " but, as a 

 matter of fact, it is of extreme rarity throughout the Central and 

 North-West Provinces, the Punjab and Eajpootaiia ; and it is only 

 in Lower and Eastern Bengal that I have seen it abundant, or have 

 either found or heard of its breeding in the plains. 



Here it lays at any rate from July to September, making a nest 

 of weeds and grass, reed or rush, just like Pallas's Crake and in 

 precisely similar situations, but somewhat larger and more sub- 

 stantial. 



Two nests that I found contained five and three eggs respectively, 

 the former slightly incubated, the latter fresh. No one has given 

 me any further information about the nidification of this species. 

 Mr. Gates obtained a pair near Thayetmyo that were doubtless 

 breeding, but he failed to find the nest. 



The late Dr. Stoliczka wrote to me : — " P. fusca breeds in July 

 on the Woolar Lake (Cashmere)." 



The eggs are moderately broad ovals, somewhat pointed occasion- 

 ally at one end. The shell is tolerably fine, but there is little or 

 no gloss. The ground-colour is pinky or creamy white, and they are 

 more or less streaked, spotted, and blotched with brownish red or 

 reddish brown. There are a number of pale inky-purple spots inter- 

 mingled, chiefly at the broad end, with the red markings, which 

 latter, I should note, vary much in shade and hue, being in some 

 eggs almost deep red, in others almost dull brown. The markings 

 are nowhere dense, but they are much more numerous towards the 

 large end. 



In length they vary from 1-16 to 1-27, and in breadth from 0-8 

 to 0-89; but the average of fifteen eggs is 1-2 by 0-84. 



Porzana akool (Sykes). The Broivn Crake. 



Porzana akool (Sykes), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 721 ; Hume, Rouoh Draft 

 N.8fE.-ao.Q6%. 



I have never seen a nest of the Brown Crake. Mr. E. E. Blewitt, 

 who first toolc its eggs in 1868, says :— " I must consider the Bro\\n 

 Crake a rather rare bird. Eor forty years an ardent sportsman 



