204 baillon's crake. 



except during the latter part of the spring, the summer and 

 autumn. 



Probably many cross the Himalayas and leave the Empire 

 altogether ; but some few apparently remain to breed every- 

 where both in Southern and Northern India. Great numbers 

 breed in the lower outer ranges of the Himalayas, and many 

 appear in various portions of the country during the rains or 

 hot season wheie, during the rest of the year, they are never 

 seen. For instance, at Tavoy they were abundant in April and 

 May and during the summer, but had entirely disappeared in 

 November. In the Cantonments of Agra I have repeatedly seen 

 them in gardens in May and June, but have failed to find them 

 anywhere near Agra at any other season. From many locali- 

 ties people write that this species is only a cold weather visitant, 

 while from others they report " seen only during the rains." 



On the very imperfeet evidence available, my "working hypo- 

 thesis" is that a large proportion of our birds are purely cold- 

 weather visitants to the Empire ; that of the remainder a consider- 

 able portion move to and breed in the Himalayas during the hot 

 and rainy seasons, and that the rest move about the country a 

 great deal. Some affect wet, low-lying lands during the 

 cold weather, such as the Deltaic districts of Lower Bengal, and 

 move up during the rains to drier (though at that season well- 

 watered) districts. Many residents of jhils and swamps in 

 drier portions of the country wander into irrigated gardens 

 and groves during the hot weather when their winter homes 

 have dried up ; a great many seem to follow rice, wild and 

 cultivated, and disappear from tracts where all this has been 

 cut or has dried away, to re-appear when the rice re-appears. 



For, although you may at one time or another find them any- 

 where, where there is water and cover, on the banks of streams, 

 in irrigated gardens or corn crops, swamps and pieces of water 

 of any kind the banks of which afford grassy, sedgy, or her- 

 baceous cover, there is no such certain find for this species 

 as patches of the wild rice (pusaiee) or the grassy margins of 

 fields of cultivated rice, whether on the plains or in the hills. 



It is not exclusively confined to fresh water, as Mr. Vidal writes 

 to me that " it is common in the salt marshes and tidal swamps 

 at Ratnagiri, and is often flushed when beating for Snipe." 



They are, as a rule, very shy and retiring birds, somewhat 

 hard to flush, and rarely seen in the open except when met with 

 in some secluded piece of water where fowlers never penetrate 

 and guns are seldom even heard. There they may be observed 

 running about briskly over the lotus leaves and other aquatic 

 plants that cover the surface in broad patches, or swimming 

 about merrily from patch to patch, prying under the leaves, to 

 the under sides of which are attached the larvae which form, in 

 such situations, a large portion of their food. 



When disturbed, they instantly dart off to cover, only rising, 



