THE WATER RAIL. 263 



" Eggs of the Water-Rail in my collection are pale whitish 

 stone-buff in ground colour, sparingly marked with pale pur- 

 plish shell-spots and dark red surface spots and blotches, and 

 measure from 1*38 by 1*02 to 1*4 by 1*05 inch." 



Mr. Smith of Yarmouth long ago gave a good account of the 

 nest and eggs of this species. He said :— " The bird had selected 

 for her nest a thick tuft of long grass, hollow at the bottom, 

 on the side of the reed pond ; the nest, about an inch and 

 a half thick, was composed of withered leaves and rushes ; it 

 was so covered by the top of the grass that neither bird, nest, 

 nor eggs could be seen ; the entrance to and from the nest was 

 through an aperture of the grass, directly into the reeds, 

 opposite which any one could stand and see the nest. The 

 length of the eggs, on an average, was one inch and a half, 

 some nearly a tenth more, others nearly a tenth less ; weight, 

 seven drachms ; colour, light cream, thickly spotted at the 

 larger ends with bright rusty red, intermixed with sunk, faint 

 lilac spots, thinly and finely spotted at the lesser ends with the 

 same colours, with a blush of pink over the whole egg, but 

 more towards the lesser end ; the yolk a bright blood-red, 

 brighter than any egg I ever opened, and I think that the pink 

 tint of the shell is owing to the redness of the yolk, for after 

 emptying the eggs it was hardly perceptible. On the 20th of 

 June I found another nest in the same reed pond ; the eggs 

 were destroyed ; this nest was built among the reeds and near 

 the water. On the 10th of July I obtained a third nest from 

 the same place, of eleven eggs, within two or three days of 

 hatching ; the nest and situation much like the last." 



The following are dimensions recorded in the flesh of 

 Dun, Yarkand and Kabul birds : — 



Length, 10*9 to 12*1 ; expanse, 15*5 to 167; wing, 4*5 to 

 4"9 ; tail from vent, 2*25 to 2*8 ; tarsus, 1*55 to 172 ; bill from 

 gape, 1*63 to 1*9; from point of frontal skin to tip, 1*48 to 

 176 ; weight, 3 ozs. to $'2 ozs. 



The irides red; gape and stripe along commissure on basal 

 half of upper mandible and basal two-thirds of lower mandible, 

 orange red to vermilion ; tips of both mandibles greyish or 

 brownish horny ; rest of upper mandible dark brown ; legs 

 and feet brownish pink to fleshy brown. 



Of a young bird, Dr. Scully notes : — 



u Bill dusky brown ; lower mandible brownish orange at 

 base ; irides greenish straw colour ; legs and feet greyish 

 brown." 



The plate. — This species is so like indicus that it seemed 

 useless to figure it. The reader has only to imagine the dark 

 facial stripe withdrawn, and the sides of the face and sides 



