BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 13& 



Family RALLIDAE 



ROUGETIUS ROUGETII (Guerin) 



Rallus rougetii Guerin, Rev. Zool.. 1843, p. 322 : Ethiopia. 



Specwiens collected: 



Male, Aletta, Sidamo, Ethiopia, March 8, 1912. 



Soft parts: Iris, brownish red; bill, dull red; legs and feet, reddish 

 olive. 



According to Neumann "* the sexes are alike in plumage, but 

 younger birds are somewhat lighter than older ones. From this it 

 would seem that the type specimen (now in the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology) was not as fully adult as the one collected by Mearns or 

 another adult from Debra Markos, 100 miles south of Lake Tsana 

 (Cheesman collection). Even allowing for fading, as the type was 

 mounted and on exhibition for many years, it is lighter, particularly 

 on the sides of the head, than the other two specimens. 



The bird from Debra Markos is darker, deeper reddish on the 

 underparts than the Aletta specimen, but the latter is darker, more 

 fuscous, less brownish on the back and rump than the former. 



Cheesman 's bird extends the known range of this rail through the 

 Gojjam district. The nearest point to the south where it has been 

 noted is Adis Abeba, where Erlanger ^ heard it calling on several 

 occasions, but was unable to procure a specimen. Lovat, however, 

 did obtain this rail at Gedda, Antotto, not far from Adis Abeba. 

 To the northeast of the Tsana district the nearest records are Riip- 

 pell's bird from Semien, Von Heuglin's specimen from Wogara, 

 eastern Tigre district, while Ashangi Lake ^ is the nearest point to 

 the east. According to Sclater ' the species is confined to the high- 

 lands of Ethiopia and Shoa, but Reichenow ^ lists a specimen taken 

 by Antinori at Lobeida, which, according to Reichenow ^ is in Kordo- 

 fan. Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The species is not included in Sclater 

 and Mackworth-Praed's list of Sudanese birds. Its occurrence in 

 the Sudan is doubtful. 



The colored figure (pi. 46) in Rlippell's "Syst. Uebersicht der 

 Vogel Nord-Ost-Afrikas " is more rosy, less chestnut, below than any 

 of the specimens examined. 



The single specimen collected is smaller than the type or the 

 bird from Debra Markos. The measurements are as follows: 



*Journ. f. Ornlth., 1904, pp. 334-335. 



5 Idem, 1905, p. 86. 



• Blanford, Geol. and Zool. Abyss., 1870, p. 434. 



^Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 101. 



*Vog. Afrikas, vol. 1, p. 275. 



»Idem, Atlas, 1902. 



