AMAUHOfiXI.S. 200 



C3-en-as -<f^ivd:..^"crisoi^3sris, RA,-i,.„imch. 

 Amaurornis moluccana. 



l;i Kdrs-VKN'I'KII K U[.. 



I'lii-.aiia Diolncanin, Wallace, Proc. Zuol. Soc, 18G-"i, \>. ISO. 



(riillinnla nijicrifi.ia, Goulfl, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. Supfil., pi. 79 (18G'.)). 



Amaurornis mill nccitna, Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus,, Vol. XXIII., p. 153 (IS'.U); id-, Hiind-1. 

 Btls, Vol. I., p. lOG (1S99). 



Al)Ul,T M.\LK. — <lr'.)ii'riil cii/oiir (iliDrf, incluilinti tin', fiirehiivl, f/M/r/i ii ud sidfs ■)/' ///« /ifiid and 

 ■i/i'ck dark oHvfi-hroim : tin: luwer back, ruin/), ii/i/n'r /ail-cuveris and tnil-feaf/iern simi/ar, bnt s/iij/itlij 

 a/inded icitlt rufons : rxtreine base of forn/n'ad and. in fronf of '/"' «,'/'' blackish : rJiiit, cheeks, throat 

 and all tin' nndi'r surface slaly-'irfij, the sidfS id ih'' liodij irash'd a-ttli uli n- liroii'n : abdomen, tliiglis 

 and nitdir luil-coferfs pale rustif-ri'd, difju'r in eolmir nn thr lalliT ; " bi/l ijreen, intli linsr id' nilinen 

 iiraniji'jji'Uoir; leys and feot olire-yelUnr ; iris, rieli brinrn ' (Macgillivray). Total bni/th. lO'?-') 

 iu.r.h.es, nnag 3'S, tail :'\!f, bill p.j, tarsn-s .'.'v*. 



Adult FKM.\LK. — Thr se.res are (dike in. jiluntaye. 



Distribution. — -North-eastern (Uieensland. 



/T(j% 1 1 1-^ type of tlie Rufous-vented R;iil was oriL^inally described by E^r. Alfred Kussel! Wallace 

 J- in the " Proceedin<,'s of the Zoolof^ical Society of London," in iSr)5, from specimens 

 procured in Amboyna and Ternate. Gould described it four years later in the "Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History," under the name of Galliiudii niticrlssn, from a specimen obtained 

 on the Cape Ri\er, Queensland, by Mr. Kainbird, and sent home by the late Mr. F. G. 

 W'aterhouse, Curator of the South .Australian Institute, .Vdelaide, and Gould figured it in his 

 " Supplement to the Birds of Australia" in the same year. In addition to the Moluccan Islands 

 and North-eastern <_)ueensland its range e.xtends to New Guinea, from whence there is a specimen 

 in the Australian Museum, obtained near Port Moresby by the late Mr. Carl Hunstein, and 

 New Britain, from whence birds have been procured and the eggs received, talcen by Mr. R. 

 Parkinson. 



.\lthough specimens have been recorded from several localities near the north-eastern coast 

 of Queensland, it is a remarkably rare species, and is seldom seen in collections. In "The Ibis" 

 for 1910 Messrs. H. C. Robinson and W. S. La\erocI<, in their interesting article on "The 

 Birds of North (tueensland," record four specimens from Bellender Ker, the only occasion I 

 have k-nown them to be credited to that locality, although it is common in the neighbourhood of 

 Cooktown, and occurs as far south as the Herbert Ri\er District. 



Mr. Frank Hislop sent me the following notes; — " Tlie Brown Rail (Galliiiiila ni/ia-issa) 

 frequents the Bloomfield River District, North-eastern Queensland. It is found chiefly in 

 the swampy forest land, but after the young are hatched I have seen these birds round the 

 edge of the scrub. They are very difficult to see, and will seldom lly if they can run for cover. 

 They build their nests in the forest land, and usually in a swamp; they are formed in thick tussocks 

 of grass, the stems of which are bent down to form a base for them, and more grass brought until 

 they are fairly substantial. The birds also generally bend some of the grass so as to form rough 

 arches over the nest. I have taken three sets of eggs, two of these contained six and seven eggs 

 and the other one had thirteen, but I think two birds must have laid in the latter nest. .\s a 

 rule, if one finds a nest containing only a couple of eggs, and touches them, the bird will not 

 return to the nest, and in many cases the eggs disappear, whether they are destroyed by the bird 

 5:i 



