I 



177 



barred with white and largely tipped with buff; primaries dark brown, the two outer ones crossed by 

 narrow interrupted bars of fulvous white, and the rest broadly barred on both webs with dull chestnut-red, 

 varied more or less on the third quill with white; secondaries barred in a similar manner, but with a 

 whitish spot near the extremity of both webs ; outer scapulars brownish black, with numerous elliptical 

 spots of white on both webs, and edged with pale olive-brown; tail-feathers olive-brown, with darker 

 shafts, Irides reddish hazel; bill reddish brown at the base, fading into yellowish brown at the tip; 

 tarsi and toes light brown. Total length 13 inches ; extent of wings 17*5 ; wing, from flexure, 5*5'; 

 tail 2*5 ; bill, along the ridge 1*6, along the edge of lower mandible 175 ; tarsus 1*5 ; middle toe and 

 claw 2 ; hind toe and claw '65. 



Young, The colours generally are duller, the pectoral band is reduced to a mere wash of yellowish brown, 

 and the bars on the underparts of the body are far less conspicuous than in the adult. 



Cfiick, A newly hatched chick, brought to me by a native, and assigned (I believe correctly) to this species, 

 was covered with glossy black down. 



Varieties, Like other members of the group to which it belongs, this form is liable to' considerable variation 

 of plumage. In the numerous examples which have come under my notice, the pectoral band, although 

 never entirely absent, has varied both in extent and colouring from a narrow interrupted line of sandy 

 buff to a broad zone of rich chestnut. Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub, in a communication to the Zoologi- 

 cal Society (November 26, 1869), state that '' in a set of specimens from the Pelew Islands, some had 

 the rufous pectoral band, in two others it was entirely wanting, and in one bird there was only to be 



seen a faint trace of it ; 



yy 



forsteri 



a state of plumage due to age or season. The extent and colour of the facial band is likewise variable : 

 in some it is of a rich dark brown with well-defined edges, the grey plumage above forming a long 



distininiishin 



narrow streak, while in others it is diffused, largely mixed with rufous, and spreading considerably oi 

 the hind neck. The distinctness of the white bars on the underparts varies in different individuals ; 

 but this seems to be in some measure dependent on the age of the bird. An example which recently 

 died in the Zoological Society's Gardens, and was kindly forwarded to me by Dr. Sclater for examination, 

 has the whole of the upper smface spotted with white, largely tinged on the wings with fulvous ; others, 

 again, I have seen in which the spotted markings were almost entirely confined to the hind neck and 

 shoulders; but as it would be easy to bring together a complete intermediate series, this is of no value 



Mr. Potts's so-called Rallus pictus, characterized by its decidedly superior 

 size, would certainly be entitled to recognition but for the great variation in this respect to which this 

 species is subject. The garter, or bare tibia, mentioned by Mr. Potts in his description of Rallus 

 pictus (Lc), is to be found also in ordinary examples of our R. philippensisj although, of course, this 

 feature is proportionally more conspicuous in the larger birds. No weight can be attached to the 

 slight peculiarity in the shape of the bill, unless it should prove to be a constant character; for I can 

 give an, instance within my own experience of a very manifest modification in the bill of a Rail 

 through purely accidental causes. On this point Dr. Finsch writes me as follows : — " I received in Haast's 

 last collection a specimen of the so-called Rallus pictus from the Okarita lagoon; but I find that it differs 

 in no way from those collected in the Pacific and elsewhere.'' Mr. Gould also, in treating of this 

 species^, regards the birds received from Southern and Western Australia, ''which are rather smaller 

 and have more attenuated bills," as mere local varieties. 



A.LLOWING that th^ varieties commerated above are all referable to one and the same species, w 



* Handbook to the Birds of Austraha, vol. ii. p. 384. 



\ 



