700 



Birds of Celebes: Rallidae. 



m, 349; (5) Gray, HL. 1871, HI, 58, Nr. 10401; (6) Wald., Tr. Z. S. 1872, Vm. 



95; (VII) Sliai;pe, Cat. B. 1894, XXin, 78, pi. VTH, fig. 2; (8) Hart., Nov. ZooL 



1897, 165. 

 b. Eallina tricolor pt. (1) Schl., Mus. P.-B., Kalli, 1865, 18. 

 Ballina minahassa (1) Lenz, J. f. O. 1877, 380; (2) Eosenb., Malay. Archip. 1878, 278; 



(3) W. Bias., J. f. O. 1883, 126, 140; (4) M. & Wg., Abh. Miis. Dresd. 1895 Mai, 



Nr. 8, p. 18. 

 Figure and descriptions. Sharpe a VII; "Wallace al (Meyer has figured the skeleton of 



the allied B. tricolor Gr. in Abb. v. Vogelskel. I, pi. XLII, 1883). 

 Adult female. Above dark olive-bistre, duller on the rump and tail; remiges blackish; 



head, neck and upper breast very dark ferniginous, paler on chin and throat; 



under surface black, crossed with narrow white bars about 10 mm apart; sides of 



breast brown like the upper surface; under wing-coverts black, spotted with white; 



remiges below blackish, with about foiu- rows of transverse spots of white on the 



inner webs: "bill above black, elsewhere green; feet black; iris vermilion" (Q, Tomohon, 



10. Oct. 94: Sarasin Coll.). 



The specimen described is sHghtly the darkest in shade of five. 

 Sexes. Sexual differences of coloration are not known to exist. 



Middle 

 measurements 



Wing 



Tail 



Tarsus toe and 

 I claw 



Bill from 

 lores 



a. (Saras. Coll. Nr.3S) gad., Tomohon, 23. IV. 94 140 65 45 42 20.5 



b. (Sar. Coll. Nr. 321) Q ad., Tomohon, 10. X. 94 141 70 43 41 21 



c. (Saras. Coll. Nr. 239) Q ad., Tomohon, 1. IV. 94 143 68 43 41 j 20.5 



d. (C 261) ad., Gorontalo (Riedel 1875) ... 141 73 44 41 | 22 



e. (C 13873) ad., Amurang, 16.Xn. 94 (Nat. Coll.) 138 67 42 38 i 20 

 Nest. A nest labelled as belonging to this species is a sHghtly hollowed pad of pieces of dry 



bamboo-leaf and stalk, inartistically laid together (Tomohon, 23. IV. 94: P.& F. S.). 

 Distribution. Celebes and Sula: — Minahassa (Wallace 1, Rosenberg 4, etc.); Gorontalo 

 Distr. (Riedel in Dresd. Mus.); West Celebes — Tawaya (Doherty a 8]; Sula Islands 

 (Allen 1, Hoedt 4). 



This Rail is easily recognisable among all other Celebesian species by its 

 dark ferruginous head, neck and breast, its comparatively short toes, these being 

 shorter than the tarsus, and its small bill. It belongs to a group of five similar 

 species composing the genus Rallina, which, as Dr. Sharpe shows, ranges from 

 India through the East Indies to N. E. Australia. jR. minahassa is most like 

 R. euryzonoides (Lafr.) of the Philippines which has the bands on the under- 

 parts much broader (Sharpe's plate does not show this sufficiently), as also the 

 white spots on the under wing-coverts and remiges; a somewhat further depart- 

 ure is R. superciliaris Eyt. of Ceylon, India and Malacca. The wide-spread 

 R. fasciata (Rfl.), which ranges from Tenasserim to Borneo and Java — Sharpe 

 says (Cat. B. XXIII, 76), apparently by mistake, to Celebes • — re-occurs in 

 Pelew, Burn and Halmahera; this bird has the upper wing-coverts barred 

 with white. 



Nothing has been recorded about the habits of R. minahassa. Dr. E. P. 

 Ramsay iP. Z, S. 1875, 603) describes a nest of P. tricolor from Rockingham 

 Bay, N. E. Queensland, as containing four eggs, pale cream or whitish in ground- 



