702 Birds of Celebes: Rallidae. 



Adult male. Above bistre with greenish reflection, browner on rumi3 and tail, paler on wing- 

 coverts and outer edges of remiges; head above chestnut, passing into bistre on the 

 occiput; sides of head, fore-neck, breast vinaceous-rufous, browner on the face, 

 whitish on chin and upper throat; sides of breast greenish bistre; flanks, and 

 abdomen dusky olive, blackish on under tail-coverts, the whole barred with white; 

 under wing-coverts and remiges below broccoli -brown, the former with white 

 tips; "iris and edges of eyelids cherry-red; legs coral-red"; wing 94 mm; tail 42; 

 tarsus 33; middle toe with claw 35; bill from lores 19.5 (rf, Tondano, N. Celebes, 

 11. XL 94: Sarasin Coll., Nr. 335). 



Young. "Above unifonn dark olive, with a slight tinge of vinous on the forehead and above 

 the eye; sides of face dusky brown; throat wliite; fore-neck and remainder of 

 under surface whitish, barred with dusky olive; the sides of body, flanks and thighs 

 uniform dark olive; under tail-coverts black, broadly barred and tipped with white; 

 imder wing-coverts dark oHve edged with white" (Sharpe i 1). 



Eggs. Swinhoe says 7 or more; moderately broad ovals, sometimes rather pointed; pinky 

 or creamy white, streaked, spotted and blotched chiefly at the large end with brownish 

 red or reddish brown, pale inky -purple spots intermingled; the markings varying in 

 different eggs from deep red to dull brown: size 29.5 — 32.3 X 20.3 — 22. ti mm (Hume 

 11: see, also, Swinhoe 1 and Bernstein b 2). 



Nest. A reed-formed nest at the roots of rushes (Swinhoe). Formed of weeds and grass, reed 

 or rush (Hume). 



Distribution. India — South, Central and N. W. Provinces, the Punjab, Rajpootana — rare, 

 Bengal (Hume 11); Cashmere (Stoliczka 5); Ceylon (Legge 5); Burmah (Blyth, 

 Gates 7); Tenasserim (Brit. Mus. il); South and Central China (Swinhoe d 1, David 

 d 2, Styan d 3); Japan (T. & S. c I, Pryer etc. h 1, i 1); Formosa (Swinhoe 1, i 1)\ 

 Malay Peninsula (Hume & Davison 6, i 1); Sumatra (S. Miiller e 1, e 6); Java 

 (Reinwardt el, Bernstein b 2, etc.); Borneo (Schwaner el); Phihppines (Brisson 

 a 1, Cuming e 1); Luzon (Steere 10, "Whitehead i 3); Leyte (Everett 4); Mindanao 

 (Everett 4, Steere 10); Celebes — Mnahassa (P.&F. S.); ?Limbotto (v. Rosenb. 

 f 1); Macassar (P.&F. Sarasin i 4). 



A single male example of the Ruddy Crake was obtained by the Drs. 

 Sarasin at Tondano in November, 1894, and a male and two females at 

 Macassar in September, 1895. It had previously been recorded from the island 

 by von Rosenberg (fl) from Limbotto, but his identifications cannot always 

 be trusted, though in this case probably right. The record had hitherto been 

 overlooked by us. The Saras ins' specimens are small, like those of Java. 

 Individuals from Japan and China are stated to be of larger size by Sc hie gel, 

 Seebohm, Sharpe and others, and the first-named recognised them as a 

 distinct species, P. erythrothoraiv; the separation is upheld by Dr. Stejneger 

 (d 3). We believe, with Dr. Sharpe, that specific separation is impossible, 

 chiefly because the supposed species are not stationary everywhere. Mr. Styan 

 (d 4) considers it a summer visitor to the Lower Yangtse; in winter, there- 

 fore, the Chinese birds must be found in the Siamese Peninsula or the East 

 India Islands. To the Lucknow Division it is a cold weather visitant, according 

 to Reid (9); and Legge found it to be a winter migrant to Ceylon. Oates 

 describes it as a constant resident in Burmah. In India Hume makes the 



