{246}or–exceptionally–at the height of a few feet in a tree or bush. Rails and Crakes make a more or less substantial fabric in sedges, grass, clover, and so forth, _Creciscus_ and _Porzanula_ a spherical mass with an entrance at the side; but _Pareudiastes_, _Cabalus_, and _Ocydromus_ are stated to breed in most cases in burrows. _Gallicrex_ occasionally fashions its nest on floating leaves, and the writer has seen a Moor-Hen's nest in a similar situation. The eggs, from two to ten or more in number, are generally white or cream-coloured with red-brown, olive, or blackish markings, and often with faint lilac spots; those of the Coot are stone-drab with small black specks; those of _Cabalus modestus_ are white with a few indistinct rufous and grey flecks; those of _Zapornia parva_ and _Porzana bailloni_ are instances of a thick olive-brown mottling. The adults are stated sometimes to carry their young in their claws. Exceptionally the plumage of the Rallidae is nearly black, as in _Limnocorax_, _Fulica_, and _Habroptila_; slightly browner, as in Gallinula; blue or greenish-blue as in _Porphyrio_: but the coloration is normally sober, with a tendency to olive, brown, or chestnut. This may be relieved by stripes of white, especially on the flanks; the under parts may be nearly red as in _Creciscus levraudi_; and both surfaces may be spotted with white as in the male of _Corethrura pulchra_, or flecked and barred with it, as in _Rallus maculatus_. The sexes are usually alike, but _Rallicula_, _Zapornia_, _Gallicrex_, and _Corethrura_ are instances of the contrary. Space, however, is wanting to give in detail a description of every form, which is the less necessary in view of their general similarity; but the following examples will enable a fair idea to be gained of the group. _Rallus aquaticus_, the Water Rail of Europe and Central Asia, which winters in North-West India and North Africa, is olive-brown above with darker streaks, and lead-coloured below, the flanks being barred with black and white. The genus is found in most parts of the world, with the apparent exception of North-West Africa and the Australian Region. _Rallus elegans_, the King-Rail, _R. longirostris_ (_crepitans_), the Clapper-Rail, and _R. virginianus_ are well-known North American species, while _R. madagascariensis_ is confined to Madagascar. In _Hypotaenidia_, which ranges from India and South China to the Pacific Islands generally, the whole lower parts are barred with black and white, except in _H. striata_ and _H. mülleri_, where {247}these markings are restricted to the sides and abdominal region, and in _H. brachypus_, where the belly is plain.