Brown-cheeked Rail

The brown-cheeked rail, or eastern water rail, used to be considered a subspecies of the water rail. It differs from the slightly smaller nominate water rail by paler upperparts, brown-tinged underparts and a brown stripe through the eye, and its vocalisations are quite different. Its behaviour, nest and eggs are identical to those of the water rail, with a typical clutch of five to twelve eggs (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds in northern Mongolia, eastern Siberia, north-east China, Korea and northern Japan, and winters in South-east Asia. On arrival in India, rails may be so exhausted that they can be caught by hand (Wikipedia, general species account).