260 



THE INDIAN WATER RAIL. 



Nothing is known of its nidification, which, however, can 

 scarcely differ from that of its closely-allied western congener. 



I HAVE myself carefully measured a large series of this 

 species in the flesh, and am unable to make out any constant 

 difference in the size of the males and females. Dimensions 

 vary as follows : — 



Length, io*6 to 12*0; expanse, i6*oto 188 ; wing, 4*8 to 5*3 

 (very few under 5*0) ; tail from vent, i*8 to 2'6 ; tarsus, 1*55 to 

 175 ; bill from gape, 1*65 to 1*92 ; from point of frontal skin 

 to tip, 1*5 to i'6y \ mid-toe and claw, 1*82 to 2'0; weight, 

 4 ozs. to 6-45 ozs. 



The irides of the adult are red ; in younger birds they are 

 pale yellowish brown, brownish orange, brownish red : the 

 legs and feet dull dingy pink (cold weather), sometimes only 

 pinkish dusky, or brownish fleshy, and generally duskier 

 and purpler on joints and at back of legs ; sometimes they are 

 only pale dove brown, and sometimes pale yellowish fleshy 

 with a brownish tinge. In the bill the basal two-thirds of the 

 lower mandible, a corresponding stripe on the upper man- 

 dible along the commissure and the gape, are vermilion in 

 adults, reddish yellow or orange red in younger birds ; the 

 rest of the lower mandible brownish ; the rest of the upper 

 mandible deep brown, at times paling to the tip. 



THE PLATE is, on the whole, very satisfactory ; but, so far 

 as I know, the legs are never green, and the bill is not quite 

 correctly coloured, 



