Birds of Celebes: Eallidae. 
691 
Aramidopsis plateni (1) Sharpe, Bull. B. O. C. 1893, Nr. X, p. LIV , (2) id., B)is 1893, 568i 
(3) id.. Oat. B. XXHI, 1894, 331; (4) M. & Wg., Abli. Mus. Dresd. 1895 Mai, 
Nr. 8, p. 18. 
Descriptions. Blasius ft J, n 2\ Sharpe 3. 
Male scarcely adult. Above olivaceous, with slaty on the mantle and shoulders, with chest- 
nut on inner remiges and rumii; hind neck chestnut-rufous; head mouse-grey, dark 
brown on middle of crown and on nape, passing into the rufous of the neck; chin 
and upper throat white; fore-neck and breast slaty mouse-grey ; sides of body 
and abdomen dusky, barred with white, the bars on the abdomen buffy and Hi-defined; 
thighs brownish dusky; under wing-coverts dusky black, banned with white, 
remiges below shining brownish dusky: wing 160 mm; tail 33; tarsus 62; middle 
toe with claw 56; bill from feathers of lores 52 ((J, Tomohou, 3.V. 94: P.&F. Sarasin 
— 0 13895]. 
Adult female. Similar to the male, but the hind neck brighter chestnut-rufous, the white on 
chin less extended; “iris orange; bill above and at the tip horn-colour, elsewheie red, 
feet slate-blue-grey wing 157 mm; tarsus 60; bill from lores 52 ($, romohon, 
April, 1894: Sarasin Coll.). 
Dr. Platen indicates tlie soft parts in the type as: “bill brownish, base of the 
mandible yellowish green; feet black; mis brown” (3). 
Distribution. N. Celebes — Minahassa: Burukan (Platen a 1, a 2), Tomohon (P. & F. Sarasin). 
The Celebesian Long-billed Rail was the most remarkable of Dr. Platen s 
discoveries made during his stay at the mountain village of Rurukan in the 
Minahassa in 1884 — 85. The two specimens described above were obtained by 
Drs. P.& F. Sarasin two or three miles away at Tomohon (c. 2500 ft.), so that 
at present the bird is known only as a mountain species, where it is probably 
an inhabitant of the forests. Prof. W. Blasius at first placed it in the genus 
Rallus, but the bill is relatively much stouter, straighter and more even through- 
out its length — not slightly decurved and thinner towards the end; the pri- 
mary formula is different, the 5*" and following (not the 2"“ and 3'^) being 
the longest, and the secondaries are not appreciably shorter than the longest 
primaries, but all the remiges are fairly equal, forming a curious square wing. 
The wing is moreover much hollowed out and rather small, and the tips of the 
quills are soft; evidently the bird is a bad flyer. The middle toe with claw 
is shorter than the tarsus, but in Rallus it is much larger, and the outer toes 
in the Celebes form are relatively smaller, being about %o of f^e middle 
one, as against 'Vio in Rallus. Dr. Sharpe, in making the genus Aramidopsis 
for it, speaks of it as having its nearest affinities with the S. American Aramides, 
only pointing out that the bill of the latter is thicker at the base; but other 
differences exist. 
Aramidopsis is practically tailless, the diminutive rectrices of 33 mm being- 
buried amongst the equally long rump-feathers and under tail-coverts; Aramides 
has an appreciable tail of about 65 mm; the wing of Aramidopsis is almost 
square, the longest primaries being only about 7 mm longer than the secondaries ; 
in Aramides the primaries overreach the secondaries by about 20 mm. Never- 
theless the near affinities of the twm forms are obvious, and are the more 
87 * 
