Brown-cheeked Rail

The brown-cheeked rail, or eastern water rail, used to be considered a subspecies of the water rail and is now usually treated as a species of its own because of its very different calls, though its behaviour, nest and eggs are identical to the water rail's. It is 23–29 cm long and weighs 75–190 g. Compared with the nominate form it has paler upperparts, brown-tinged underparts and a brown stripe through the eye; compared with another race, it is darker above with a browner breast, white on the throat and a more obvious brown eyestripe (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds in northern Mongolia, eastern Siberia, north-east China, Korea and northern Japan and winters in Southeast Asia. It was regarded as a separate species in early works, including the first edition of the Fauna of British India in 1898. On arrival in India, rails may be so exhausted that they can be caught by hand. The clutch is typically 5–12 eggs. SoIB 2023 lists it as a winter migrant of wetland, and does not assign a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).