RATLIN A EURYZONOIDES. 773 



The form inhabiting the Philippine Islands is somewhat darker in its chestnut or rufous coloration and has less white 

 on the throat. An example from Manilla in the British Museum exhibits these characters, and has the rufous 

 descending lower upon the breast and the black bands of the under surface broader than in Ceylonese and Indian 

 skins. Its measurements are : — wing 5-3 inches ; tarsus 1*65 ; bill to gape T03. Three examples (2 3 , 1 $ ) from 

 Cebu and other Philippine localities, in Captain Wardlaw Ramsay's collection, and kindly lent me by that 

 gentleman, correspond with the Museum skin ; they have the rufous of the head and hind neck very dark, and 

 the chin is very pale rufescent or rufescent whitish ; the black on the breast, abdomen, under tail- and under 

 wing-coverts preponderates over the white. The female has the red colour descending from the head upon the 

 hind neck. The dimensions are: — c? , wing 4-0-5-4 inches, tarsus T65-1-78, bill to gape 145; ?, wing 5-4, 

 tarsus 1*58, bill to gape 1 - 18. This Philippine race seems to me almost worthy of distinction as a subspecies, 

 based upon its darker coloration and the fact of the female being similar to the male. 



The Malaccan representative (R. fasciata, Baffles) of our bird differs in being smaller, and in having the wing-coverts 

 and quills brown barred with white, the latter on both webs of course. The head, neck, and chest are dull 

 rufous-chestnut, with the throat slightly paler ; the lower parts are very broadly banded with black ; the back 

 and tail rufous-brown (Singapore, British Museum). Mr. Hume, in his exhaustive paper on the birds of 

 Tenasserim, describes this species fully, and states that both sexes are alike. His measurements (5'0 to 5 - 3) for 

 the wing of male examples are, however, in excess of what mine are for Ceylonese examples of R. euryzonoides ; 

 and from this I infer that the latter species varies considerably in size, for Ceylonese migrants of this bird must 

 be identical with those which pass through India. 



A very closely allied species from China is R. manclarina, Swinhoe. A specimen before me is more olivaceous on the 

 back than our bird ; it is a male, and the brown of the hind neck extends forward on the head to the bill, where 

 it is tinged with the ferruginous hue of the face and chest ; the scapulars and wing-coverts are crossed sparingly 

 with very white bands. The dimensions of this example are — wing 5-0 inches, tarsus 1-42, middle toe 1-42, 

 bill to gape T08 ; the chin is whitish, and the white bands of the lower parts narrower than the black. 



Rallina canningi, Tytler, from the Andamans, somewhat resembles our species, but is much larger, measuring from 

 6-3 to 6-5 inches in the wing. I have not personally examined this bird ; but it is described as being very hand- 

 some, with the " upper parts and breast of a rich dark colour, approaching to maroon ; a slight olivaceous tinge 

 about the rump ; throat less deeply coloured ; the abdominal region, flanks, and plumes black, with from two to 

 four transverse white bands on each feather" {Bhjth). 



The first description of this species, until recently, has always been ascribed to G-melin, and his name zeylanicus (after- 

 wards modified into ceylonims) almost invariably assigned to it. The late Marquis of Tweeddale, however, pointed 

 out (P. Z. S. 1877) that Gmelin did not found his description on Brown's figure " Tlie Bail " (p. 94, pi. 37 of his 

 'Illustrations'), but upon another bird described by Brown as a "Bail" (p. 96, pi. 3S). Gmelin quoted p. 9 b' 

 when describing his Rallus zeylanicus, at the same time referring, in error, to the right drawing of this species in 

 plate 37. This, however, is not considered as proof that he had Brown's The Bail in view, for his diagnosis does 

 not apply to it. The next oldest title given to the bird is that of Lafresnaye, and it has therefore been adopted. 



Distribution. — This interesting Rail arrives in Ceylon, appearing, so far as has been observed, chiefly on 

 the west coast, at the end of October and the beginning of November. When the north or " longshore " 

 wind sets in those who are acquainted with this bird at Colombo begin to look out for it, as it arrives on 

 the coast in an exhausted state, and on coming to terra firma conceals itself in the first place which it can 

 find, very generally choosing houses and hiding behind furniture, in thatched roofs, or even in Wellington 

 boots. I first heard of it from my friend Mr. Holdsworth, who found one in his bedroom at the Galle-face 

 Hotel. Mr. Bligh afterwards informed me of several having been captured in the same building, which 

 abuts on to the sea-beach, and affords the exhausted travellers a speedy but unsafe refuge. Some years greater 

 numbers seem to arrive than others. In October 1876 several were caught at Colombo, one of which I found 

 one morning early in the new buildings at the corner of Chatham and Queen's Streets ; and a day or two after- 

 wards another was captured in my back yard at the new officers'-quarters, while a third was found in the 

 Surveyor-General's office. It is only at this season that they are noticed on the coast, and a short time 

 afterwards they have entirely disappeared and are not often to be found even in the low country of the interior. 

 They take their departure for the hills and are not uncommon during the cooler months about Kandy, 

 Deltota, Hewahette, and Maturata. Mr. Bligh has recently sent me an example which he procured on the 

 summit of the Harangolla patnas, close to the Trigonometrical station ; he has likewise shot it in jungle 

 above Catton estate, at an elevation of over 5000 feet ; and Mr. Thwaites tells me that it has been killed at 



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