258 THE INDIAN WATER RAIL. 



nearly over the middle of the eye ; often almost white, and very 

 conspicuous. In aquaticus this is absent or only just indicated. 



The front of the neck, breast, and upper abdomen in aquaticus 

 are a pure, more or less dark, leaden grey unmixed with brown 

 or any other colour ; these parts in indicus are nuich paler, a light 

 blue grey, and the feathers are everywhere more or less broadly 

 tipped with whitey brown, pale brown, or dingy fawn colour. 



The difference thus resulting in the appearance in these parts 

 is very striking when two series, one of each form, are com- 

 pared. 



In dquaticus the visible portion of the feathers of the lower 

 abdomen, of those about the vent, and of the lower tail-coverts, 

 are a sort of pale fawn colour. In indicus almost the whole of 

 these feathers are barred like the flanks. 



In some specimens of indicus these feathers no doubt show 

 more or less of pale fawny tippings, partially obscuring the bar- 

 rings, but in the majority of full-plumaged adults these run dis- 

 tinct on to the lower tail-coverts. 



I may add, that in even apparently quite adult indicus, the pri- 

 mary median coverts seem always to exhibit a considerable num- 

 ber of narrow white transverse striae, often associated with a 

 dark line ; while this seems to be very rare and always more 

 limited in its extent in aquaticus. 



Setting aside other minor points, those by which I should 

 diagnose the species are, the larger wing, the dark facial stripe, 

 and the different colour of the throat, sides of the neck, breast, 

 and upper abdomen, both which points of colouration are well 

 brought out in the plate. 



As TO THE distribution of the Indian Water Rail, alike within 

 and without our limits, our information is most imperfect. 

 Layard records it from Ceylon, but I have seen no specimens 

 thence. It may also occur in the extreme south of the Penin- 

 sula, but I have no record of its occurrence anywhere within 

 our limits, except about Calcutta (where it is common), in 

 several of the Deltaic districts of Bengal, the Bhutan Duars, 

 the Sikhim and Nepal Tarais, the valley of Nepal, Tipperah, 

 and Aracan. 



Eastwards it very probably occurs throughout Assam, and 

 westwards it may extend along the moist, submontane tracts 

 as far as the Ganges ; but both these facts have yet to be 

 ascertained, and in the Dun it is replaced by the European 

 species. 



It has not been recorded from Pegu or Tenasserim. 



Outside our limits, it is found in Japan and, I believe, South- 

 east Siberia, Dauria, and Northern China, and Prjevalski thinks 

 it was this species that he met with at Tsaidam and in the 

 valley of the Hoang-ho in May, and which arrived at Lake 

 Hanka towards the end of April and bred there. But Swinhoc, 



