400 EAILID^. 



Mr. J. Darling, Junior, writes from Southern India :— " Nest 

 found at Sultan's Battery.Wvnaad, 2000 feet above the sea, on 26th 

 August, 187-i. The nest was built in some long grass by the side 

 of a small swamp, bounded on one side by the Grovernment Eoad, 

 and other sides by bamboo jungle. It was in a tuft of grass, the 

 grass concealing it well, and measured 6 inches in diameter and 

 8 inches deep. The entire nest was built of gi-ass, from top to 

 bottom ; the foundation was decayed but the top was green grass, 

 as if the bird went on putting grass under the eggs. There were 

 five eggs in the nest." 



Major Wardlaw Eamsay remarks :— " The Blue-breasted Eail 

 breeds at Tonghoo in August and September. I took a nest on 

 the 20tli September 1874, containing five eggs. The bird is com- 

 mon at Kangoon and Tonghoo." 



Mr. Gates found numerous nests of this Eail in Pegu from the 

 1st of July to the 11th October. They were generally built in 

 the coarse grass which grows between the paddy-fields, and were 

 small pads of vegetable matter on or near the ground. The eggs 

 are usually six or seven in number. 



The eggs of this species though all of the same type differ a great 

 deal inter se. Typically they are very regular ovals, but a good many 

 are decidedly compressed towards the small end ; some are rather 

 more elongated and occasionally an almost pyriform egg is met 

 with. 



The ground-colour varies from almost pure white to a rich 

 salmon-pink, though pinky white or pinky stone-colour is most 

 usual. 



The majority of eggs have scarcely any gloss, but I have one or 

 two specimens very fairly glossy ; the markings consist of bold 

 blotches chiefly about the large end, and moderate-sized spots and 

 specks, more or less thinly distributed about the rest of the egg ; 

 but some eggs almost entirely want the larger blotches and are 

 somewhat more thickly set with the smaller spots ; while some 

 again have only a number of moderate-sized spots about the large 

 end and scarcely any markings elsewhere. 



In colour the markings vary from bright burnt sienna-red to dull 

 reddish purple, while besides these, which we may call primary 

 markings, a number of spots or blotches of pale subsurface-looking 

 greyish lilac occur in most eggs, but chiefly about the large end, 

 and very often these latter markings are far more numerous than 

 the former. 



The eggs vary from 1'3 to 1'4 in length and from 0'98 to 1'13 in 

 breadth ; but the average is 1-35 by 1-02, 



Hypotsenidia obscuriora, Hume. The Andaman Banded Bail. 



Hypotsenidia obscuriora, Hume \ Hume, Cat. no. 913 his. 

 Two nests of this species, taken in May and July, were mere pads 



