^ 



694 Birds of Celebes: Eallidae. 



been recorded, so far as we know, only from the Minahassa, and in three spe- 

 cimens, two adults in the British Museum and one scarcely adult bird in the 

 Sarasin Collection. Whether these specimens were on migration or not is doubt- 

 ful. The bird breeds in abundance in Pegu, as Oates has shown, and Swinhoe 

 (a 3) obtained the eggs in Formosa. Sty an marks it as a summer visitant to 

 the Lower Yangtse, and Capt. Butler (12) as such in Belgaum, Bombay 

 Presidency, where it breeds in August and September. In Ceylon Col. Legge 

 is inclined to think it a winter visitant. 



In a careful article (a 7) Dr. Stejneger has attempted to show that three 

 forms of this Rail exist, a large race with white-spotted primary-coverts from 

 South China, a small race from Malacca — Java, and a small race with un- 

 spotted primary-coverts from the Philippines, but these results are disproven 

 with the material in the British Museum by Dr. Sharpe, who considers that 

 the differences in plumage can be accounted for on the score of age alone. 

 The Andaman Islands, however, are known to be inhabited by a dark race, 

 H. ohscurior Hume. 



Rather nearly allied to H. striata is H. philippensis (L.}, which also is found 

 in Celebes. The latter is much larger (wing 145 mm as against 120), has a long, 

 broad superciliary stripe of grey, the remiges banded with rufous, not with white 

 (except the two outermost), the upper-parts much more rufous and paler, the 

 throat and jugulum only (not breast) grey, the breast banded like the other 

 under-parts. 



H. celebensis is easily recognised by its uniform olivaceous upper surface, 

 and by its having all the under-parts black, barred with white. 



The habits of H. striata are well described by Bernstein (b2), Oates and 

 Legge. In Java the former describes it as plentiful in damp, marshy pastures, 

 low wastes of Alang-alang and Glagah, ditches between fields, etc. ; a shy bird, 

 usually overlooked owing to its habits of concealment, often caught during the 

 rice and grass harvests owing to its running and hiding under the heaps of 

 straw or hay. It feeds on insects, worms, small snails, and such like. In anxiety 

 it utters a sharp, shrill cry, also making a noise at times like "hup, hup, hup" 

 by forcibly ejaculating the air from its air-sacks. 



+ 297. HYPOTAENIDIA PHILIPPENSIS (L.). 



'^^ • Banded Rail. 



a. Rallus philippensis (1) Linn., S. N. 1766, I, 263 (exBrisson); (//; Buller, B. N. Zeal. 



1873, 176, pi. 20, fig. 2; (3) Hutton, Ibis 1873, 350; (4)^v\xgg., Abh. Ver. Brem. 

 1876, V, 92; (5) Nicholson, Ibis 1881, 156; (6) id., ib. 18S2, 69; (VII) Buller, 

 B. N. Zeal. 2°'' ed. 1888, II, 95, pi. 33; (8) Wiglesw., Av. Polyn. 1892, 59. 



b. Rallus peetoralis (I) Gld., B. Austr. VI, pi. 76 fl848); (II) Finsch & HartL, Om. 



Centralpol. 1867, 157, t. m, f. 3 (egg); (3) Graffe, J. f. 0. 1870, 414; (4) Potts, 

 Ibis 1872, 37; (V) id., Tr. & Pr., N. Z. Inst. 1873, V, pi. XVm (head); (6) Hartl., 

 Vog. Madag. 1877, 339; (7) E. L. & L. C. Layard, Ibis 1882, 536, 544. 



