776 
HTPOTtENIDIA striata. 
portions only olive ; the ferruginous colour of the head is darker than in Indian specimens, and is more extensively 
marked with black on the nape ; the slaty colour of the breast is also purer in tint than in Indian birds. These 
examples are from the islands of Cebu and Leyte. A Javan specimen in the national collection has the head, 
back of neck, and upper surface as in Ceylonese birds ; but the slate-colour of the fore neck descends further upon 
the breast ; the amount of white on the throat is the same. A Rangoon example of Captain Wardlaw Ramsay’s 
has the upper surface like that of my specimens, but the head and hind neck are darker in tint. A Eanjermassing 
skin is almost identical with a Ceylonese, but the markings of the under tail-coverts are more buff. Malaccan skins 
are likewise very similar. 
There is considerable variation in the bills, both as to length and proportionate thickness ; but those of females, which 
are smaller birds, are constantly of less size than in the males. 
The Anrlinnnn race ( B . obscuriora ) has been separated on account of its large size and darker colours. Mr. Hume 
gives the wing-measurement (3tr. Feath. 1874, p. 302) as 5 - 4to 5"5. Two examples in Captain Wardlaw Ramsay’s 
collection from S. Andaman measure (?) 5-2 inches, ( J ) 5-5 in the wing, and 1-7, 1-8 in the bill from the gape. 
They are certainly much darker than Indian, Ceylonese, and Burman skins, but scarcely darker than a skin from 
Cebu ; and the difference is owing simply to the black, which is a little more intense and spreads more over the 
feather. The ferruginous tints of the head and hind neck are certainly darker than iu continental specimens ; but 
the same is the case in the Philippine birds. It is at best a very closely allied race. 
Gray includes 13 species of these short and stout-billed forms of Ilallus in his ‘Hand-list,’ chiefly from Malaya and 
the Pacific islands. 
II. pectoralis (Cuv.), from the Pacific islands and Australia, is somewhat similar to the present, but has more black on 
the head, a white supercilium, and there is a broad fulvous band (its chief characteristic) across the chest ; the 
chest is very pale blue-grey, and the under surface is more boldly barred than in II. striata. A Samoan example 
measures 5 - 3 inches in the wing. 
II. torquata is peculiar to the Philippines ; and another species found there, II. philippensis, extends to Celebes, 
Australia, and New Zealand. 
Distribution. — This handsome Rail is a rare bird in Ceylon, and is, I should say, very local in its habitat. 
Layard met with it at Pt. Pedro, where a living example was brought to him ; he also received it from the 
Batticaloa district. I have myself only met with it in the neighbourhood of Negombo, where I found it 
frequenting the small scrub-covered islands at the head of the lake, and near the canal in the swamp of 
Mutturajawella. The taxidermist of the Colombo Museum, Mr. Hart, has, I believe, also met with it in the 
Western Province. I am inclined to think that it is migratory, as I have not seen it at any other season than 
during the north-east monsoon. 
In the south of India, Mr. Davison procured it at Kotagherry, in the Nilghiris, but it does not appear 
to be common in the south. Jerdon, however, affirms that “it is found throughout India, from the 
extreme south to the Himalayas and the Punjab, especially in the cold weather It is rare,” he says, 
“ in the Carnatic and Deccan.” It is not recorded by either Messrs. Bourdillon, Fairbank, Ball, or Butler 
from any of the districts aforementioned in this work ; and there is no reason, I think, to infer that it extends 
towards the north-west of the empire, as its distribution is manifestly easterly. In Lower Bengal it is 
not uncommon; and we find Mr. Hume recording it as being brought into the Calcutta market in the cool 
season. At Sylhet, in the north-east comer of the Presidency, Mr. Cripps found it common in May and June. 
Eastward of the bay it appears to be locally distributed, but perhaps, on the whole, more numerous than in 
India. In Upper Pegu Mr. Oates did not meet with it, but had a specimen sent to him which was shot near 
Prome; but in Lower Pegu it is common, he says. At Rangoon and Tonghoo Captain Wardlaw Ramsay like- 
wise affirms it to be plentiful ; but Dr. Armstrong only saw it in the vicinity of Syriam. Further south, in 
Tenasserim, Mr. Davison observes that it is sparingly diffused over the more level and open tracts of the 
central and northern portions of the province. 
From the Malay region it has more than once been recorded ; in the list of the birds of the western half 
of the peninsula we find it noted from “Malacca, Nealys, and Singapore.” In Java it is probably not 
uncommon ; Professor Schlegel records several examples from that island in the Leyden Museum. It was 
obtained there both by Ilorsfield and Boie. In Sumatra Raffles procured it; and in Borneo it has been 
obtained at Banjermassing by Mottley, and at Sarawak by Dona and Beccari. Everett shot it in Marup ; and 
