Birds of Celebes: Rallidae. ggi 



Aramidopsis plateni (1) Sliarpe, Bull. B. O. C. 1893, Nr. X, p. LIV; (2) id., Ibis 1893, 568; 

 (3) id., Cat. B. XXTTT, 1894, 331; (4) M. & Wg., Abh. Mus. Dresd. 1895 Mai, 

 Nr. 8, p. 18. 



Descriptions. W. Blasius a 1, a 2\ Sbarpe 3. 



Male scarcely adult. Above oHvaceous, with slaty on the mantle and shoulders, with chest- 

 nut on inner remiges and rump; hind neck chestnut-rufous; head mouse-grey, dark 

 brown on middle of cro^\^l and on nape, passing into the rufous of the neck; chin 

 and upper throat white; fore-neck and breast slaty mouse-grey; sides of body 

 and abdomen dusky, barred with white, the bars on the abdomen huffy and ill-defined; 

 thighs brownish dusky; under wing-coverts dusky black, barred with white; 

 remiges below shining brownish dusky: wing 160 mm; tail 33; tarsus 62; middle 

 toe with claw 56; bill from feathers of lores 52 (c^', Tomohon, 3. V. 94: P. &F. Sarasin 

 — C 13895). 



Adult female. Similar to the male, but the hind neck brighter chestnut-rufous, the white on 

 cliin less extended: "iris orange; bill above and at the tip horn-colour, elsewhere red; 

 feet slate-blue-grey''; wing 157 mm; tarsus 60; bill fi-om lores 52 ($, Tomohon, 

 April, 1894: Sarasin Colh). 



Dr. Platen indicates the soft parts in the type as: "bill brownish, base of the 

 mandible yellowish green; feet black; u-is brown" (3). 



Distribution. N. Celebes — Minahassa: Rurukan (Platen a 1, a 2), Tomohon (P. & F. Sarasin). 



The Celebesian Long-billed Rail was the most remarkable of Dr. Platen's 

 discoveries made during his stay at the mountain village of Rurukan in the 

 Minahassa in 1884 — 85. The two specimens described above were obtained by 

 Drs. P.t& F. Sarasin two or three miles away at Tomohon (c. 2500 ft.), so that 

 at present the bird is known only as a mountain species, where it is probably 

 an inhabitant of the forests. Prof. W. Blasius at first placed it in the genus 

 Rallus, but the bill is relatively much stouter, straighter and more even through- 

 out its length — not slightly decurved and thinner towards the end; the pri- 

 mary formula is different, the S"" and following (not the 2'"^ and 3"') being 

 the longest, and the secondaries are not appreciably shorter than the longest 

 primaries, but all the remiges are fairly equal, forming a curious square wing. 

 The wing is moreover much hollowed out and rather small, and the tijis of the 

 quills are soft; evidently the bird is a bad flyer. The middle toe with claw 

 is shorter than the tarsus, but in Rallus it is much larger, and the outer toes 

 in the Celebes form are relatively smaller, being about Vio of the middle 

 one, as against ''/lu in Rallus. Dr. Sharpe, in making the genus Aramidopsis 

 for it, speaks of it as having its nearest affinities with the S. American Aramides, 

 only pointing out that the bill of the latter is thicker at the base; but other 

 differences exist. 



Aramidopsis is practically tailless, the diminutive rectrices of 33 mm being 

 buried amongst the equally long rump-feathers and under tail-coverts; Aramides 

 has an appreciable tail of about 65 mm; the wing of Aramidopsis is almost 

 square, the longest primaries being only about 7 mm longer than the secondaries; 

 in Aramides the primaries overreach the secondaries by about 20 mm. Never- 

 theless, the near affinities of the two forms are obvious, and are the more 



