288 Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant on Birds 



*Grymnocrex plumbeiventris. 



Gymnocrex plumbeiventris (Gray) ; Sharpe, Cat. xxiii. p. 52 

 (1894) ; Roths. & Hartert, N. Z. xx. p. 481 (1913). 

 A nearly adult male frora the Setakwa River. 



Megacrex inepta. 



Megacrex inepta D'Alb. & Salvad. ; Sharpe, Oat. xxiii. 

 p. 63 (1894) ; Gould, Birds New Guinea, v. pi. 69 (1880) ; 

 Ogilvie-Grant, Bull. B. 0. C. xxxi. p. 103 (1913). 



a-f. c? ? et (J juv. Launch Camp, Setakwa River, 31st 

 Oct.^ 7th Nov. 1912, and 16th March, 1913. [ C. B. iC] 



Iris red-brown; bill apple-green washed with blackish ; 

 feet black. 



This large flightless Rail was one of the most important 

 species procured by Mr. Wollaston's expedition. Though 

 described in 1879, it was not represented in the National 

 Collection, and the series, which includes a half-grown young 

 bird, is therefore an extremely welcome addition. D'Albertis 

 discovered it near the Fly River, where it inhabited ditches 

 still containing water during the dry season. He notes that, 

 though incapable of flight, it could run swiftly. Its remark- 

 able resemblance in coloration to the members of the 

 South-American genus Aramides has already been remarked 

 on, but it is a much more massively built bird than any 

 member of that group, both the bill and legs being extremely 

 stout. 



The half-grown male in first plumage differs from the 

 adult, which has been figured by Gould {op. cit.), in having 

 the crown of the head covered with hairy plumes of a 

 brownish-black colour, while lines of similar plumes form 

 a longitudinal pattern on the greyish sides of the head and 

 white throat. The mantle is browner than in any of the 

 adult birds procured. 



The colour of the mantle varies a good deal arriong the 

 adult birds. Two males are olive-brown washed with greyish, 

 tinged here and there with pale cinnamon. Of three 

 females one is similarly coloured to the males just mentioned. 



