Rallina fasciata, Baffles , 

 Vernacular Names.— [ 





T is only in Tenasserim that the Malayan Banded 

 Crake occurs within our limits, and even in this 

 Province I am not aware that it extends further 

 north than Moulmein. In Pegu, Upper Pegu at any 

 rate, it is replaced by the Indian species. 



Elsewhere it is found throughout the Malay Penin- 

 sula, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, and may occur, as 

 has been stated (though this requires confirmation), in the 

 Philippines. It has also been recorded from Bouru and the 

 Pelew Islands. 



When one has recorded the food, flight and habits of one 

 species of these Crakes, there remains little to be said about 

 the others, unless you have watched them very closely. With 

 careful observation each species exhibits some peculiarities in 

 its mode of life and food, which to a certain extent characterize 

 it ; but the opportunities for such observation are rare in the 

 case of all Rails, and in regard to this particular species, which 

 I have never seen in a wild state myself, I cannot find that any 

 one has ever recorded anything- beyond what Davison remarked 

 in our Birds of Tenasserim. He said : — "This Crake is very rare 

 in Tenasserim, confining itself to the brushwood and scrub jungle 

 in the vicinity of cultivation. I only saw this at Amherst and 

 Tavoy. It may occur between Tavoy and Mergui, which I 

 have not worked, but from Mergui southwards, within our 

 limits, I do not think it occurs, which is at first sight strange, as 

 further south again, in the Malay Peninsula, it is common enough. 

 It may be that the rice lands in the southernmost portions of 

 the Province do not suit it. About Amherst and Tavoy the 

 rice fields are surrounded by a good deal of low scrub and 

 brushwood. About Bankasoon, on the other hand, the rice fields 

 are mere hollows, with the dry forest, comparatively free of 

 undergrowth, coming right down to their margins, where, conse- 

 quently, there is no cover such as the bird likes and finds abun- 

 dantly in both localities where I have seen it." 



