HYP0T2ENLDIA STRIATA. 
777 
further to the east it was obtained by Wallace in Celebes. In the Philippine Islands, from where it was first 
made known and described, it is found in Luzon. 
From the Malay Peninsula it probably extends through Siam to Cochin China, where it was procured by 
Diard. It inhabits the island of Formosa; and from China Schlegel records it, though Swinhoe does not seem 
to have met with it on the mainland. 
Habits . — I found the Blue-breasted Rail frequenting thick underwood near the margin of the water 
surrounding the small islands in the Negombo lake. This fine sheet of water, which is brackish, discharges into 
the sea a mile from these islands, and the water around them is quite salt. On one occasion I observed the 
birds feeding on the tidal mud at the edge of the water in the same manner as a Sandpiper, and they allowed 
me to approach within shot before running up the bank into the scrub. I met with them singly, but I saw 
two not far from each other. Their stomachs contained tiny mollusca and very small insects. 
Although, as Jerdon says, it frequents marshes and grassy ground by the sides of tanks and rivers, I 
suspect that it affects jungle-cover rather than moist vegetation ; for Mr. Davison observed that in Tenasserim it 
confined itself, as “ elsewere, to cover in the vicinity of vegetation.” Dr. Armstrong merely writes that he saw 
it in “ marshy ground.” Mr. Cripps, however, shot two which were walking about a piece of weed-covered water 
in Sylhet ; and doubtless their choice of situation depends on local circumstances. 
Nidification. — In Burmah the present species breeds from July till October. Captain VYardlaw Ramsay 
found it breeding at Tonghoo during the months of August and September ; and Mr. Oates found its nest in 
July and as late as the 11th of October. The latter gentleman describes the nest as being a “mere pad of 
soft grass, leaves, and the outer rind of the elephant-grass, about 8 inches in diameter and 1 thick, placed in a 
tuft of grass, always near water, and raised a few inches above the ground. The coarse grass growing round 
paddy-fields is a favourite locality.” He further says, " the bird sits very closely, and the nest is not easy to 
discover. The male bird sits on the eggs, at least at times; and I killed one with a stick while he was sitting 
on seven eggs.” These vary in number from four to seven. “ Some are,” writes Mr. Oates, " almost glossless, 
others are considerably glossy. The ground-colour is pinkish stone, pale when fresh, and darkening as 
incubation proceeds. The shell-markings consist of blotches and splashes of pale purple, evenly but sparingly 
distributed over the egg ; and the surface-marks consist of large blotches and streaks of rather bright rusty 
brown. These marks are larger at the thick end than elsewhere, and run chiefly in the direction of the longer 
axis of the egg. In some eggs the marks form a distinct cap and the shell-marks are very fine. The average 
size of 31 eggs is l - 34 by l’OO.” 
Mr. Hume observes that eggs sent him by Mr. Cripps from Sylhet, where the bird breeds in May and 
June, are of the regular IV aterhen type, and the ground-colour varied from white to salmon-pink. The 
mai kings consisted of spots, specks, streaks, and blotches of maroon -red, and smaller spots and streaks of 
dull inky purple or grey.” Dimensions F33 to 1-36 by from F03 to F05 inch. 
