1882. ] ON A NEW LAND-RAIL FROM EAST AFRICA. 93 
to that colony; but I have seen so few specimens with exact loca- 
lities, that I am unable to determine its precise range. It may 
always be readily distinguished from all other Mungooses by its 
elongated nose and claws and its peculiar coloration, especially its 
black ears, no other species haying ears differing in colour from the 
rest of the head. 
Smuts says of its habits : —“ This animal lives in various parts of 
the Colony, mostly in mountain caves; it is easily tamed and 
kept in a state of domestication.” 
Molars of Suricata. 
P.M4. M?. _— Percentage. 
S. tetraductyla, a 70 50 71 
Ss b 6°3 5:0 79 
” GARR 6°5 4°8 74 
ry , ee ee 70 5°2 74 
4, Description of a New Species of Land-Rail from Hast 
Africa. By H. B. Tristram, F.R.S., C.M.Z.S. 
[Received December 28, 1881.] 
I have lately received from Mr. R. C. Ramshaw, a medical 
missionary who has been stationed for four years in East Africa, a 
small collection of birds, chiefly of Ploceidee and Cinnyride, formed 
by him at Ribé, a little to the north of Rabai, and at Jomon, a 
district extending S. lat. 3°-5° and E. long. 39°—40°. 
Among the specimens occurs a Land-Rail which both Mr. Sharpe 
and Capt. Shelley consider to be undescribed. I therefore venture 
to describe it as 
CrEX SUAHELENSIS, spec. nov. 
C. capite et regione parotica castaneis ; collo superiore fusco ; 
dorso inferiore nigricante ; supracaudalibus castaneo mar- 
ginatis ; cauda nigricante, castaneo marginata; mento et thorace 
albis ; pectore rufescente ; abdomine albescente ; crisso et subcau- 
dalibus lete castaneis ; scapularibus brunneis, quaque pluma albo 
marginata ; remigibus nigrescentibus, pogonio externo remigis 
primi albo;'subalaribus brunneis; rostro, tarsis et pedibus olivaceis. 
Long. tota 9, ale 3°92, caude 23, rostri a rictu *85, tarsi 14, 
digitt med. 1°9. 
Hab. Ribé, East Africa. 
The white edgings to the scapulars and some of the feathers of 
the back seem to indicate immaturity. In other respects the bird 
has all the appearance of being adult: and the measurements certainly 
do not correspond to those of any known species. 
