26 RALlJDiE. 



Aramus cserulescens, Gray, Hand-l. B. iii. p. .59, no. 10409 (1871). 

 Rallus cferuleus {lapsu), Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 213 (Mooi River; 

 Lydenbiu'g). 



Adult. General colour above dark chocolate-brown ; wing-coverts 

 like the back ; the bastard-wing, primarj^-coverts, and quills 

 blackish ; secondaries externally chocolate-brown ; tail-feathers 

 black ; crown of head blackish, darker than the back ; eyebrows, 

 lores, sides of face, and under surface of body dark slaty grey ; the 

 throat hoary white in the centre ; the sides of the breast, flanks, 

 and sides of rump black barred with white ; central under tail- 

 coverts also black, barred with white, the lateral ones pure white ; 

 axillaries and under wing-coverts black, barred with white like the 

 sides of the body : " bill blood-red, dusky on culmen ; tarsi and feet 

 dull brownish red, tinged with dusky ; iris blood-red " (T. ^(/jys). 

 Total length 9"o inches, culmen 1"S, wing 4'35, tail 1"6, tarsus 1"G. 



Adult female. Similar to the male in colour: "bill scarlet, dusky 

 on the culmen : tarsi dull brick-red tinged with dusky ; iris reddish 

 hazel" {T. Ai/res). 



Young. Differs from the adult by being everyw here browner : the 

 throat and centre of breast and abdomen white ; fore neck and chest 

 uniform brown with an ashy shade ; Hanks and sides of body brown 

 barred with fulvous brown : " bill dusky, nearly black, the com- 

 missure, tip, and nostrils dull red ; tarsi and feet dull red-brown, 

 dusky on the heel ; iris dusky tawny " {T. Ayres). 



Hah. South Africa, northward to Angola on the west and the 

 Zambesi on the east, extending as high as Lake Tanganyika. 



[C.]. 

 I. Ad. sk. "X aal River, Nov. F. A. Barratt, Esq. 



[C.]. 



10. Rallus madagascariensis. 



? Rallus madagascariensis, Desj. P. Z. S. 18.31, p. 4.5 (descr. nulla). 



Rallus madagascariensis [certe), T'err. S. Afr. Q. Journ. ii. p. 80 

 (1833) ; Gray, Gen. B. iii. p. .593 (1846) ; Schl. Mus. Pays-Bas, 

 Ralli, p. 10 (1865); Grandld. Bev. et May. de Zool. 1868, p. 4; 

 Mihw-Edivards iif Grandid. Hist. Kat. Madag., Ois. p. .568, 

 pi. 2.30 B. fig. 1, pi. 231 (1879-82) ; Sibree, Ibis, 1892, p. 114. 



Rallus poliocephalus, Gray, List Grallee Brit. Mus. p. 116 (1844). 



Biensis tvpus, Pucher. Bev. Zool. 1845, p. 278 ; Hes 3Iurs, Iconogr. 

 Orn. pi. 24 (1846). 



Biensis madasascariensis, Beichenh. Handb., FulicariT, Taf. ccevi. 

 fig. 2476 (1851) ; Bp. C. R. xUii. p. 599 (1856) ; Hartl. Faun. 



