700 
Birds of Celebes: Eallidae. 
m, 349; (5) G-ray, HL. 1871, IH, 58, Nr. 10401; {6) Wald., Tr. Z. S. 1872, VUI, 
95; (VIl) Shar.pe, Oat, B. 1894, XXIH, 78, pi. VIH, fig. 2; (8) Hart, Nov. Zool. 
1897, 165. 
h. Eallina tricolor pt (1) Schl., Mus. P.-B., Ealli, 1865, 18. . 
Rallina minahassa {1} Lenz, J. f. O. 1877, 380; (2) Rosenb., Malay. Archip. 1878, 278; 
{3) W. Bias., J. f. 0. 1883, 126, 140; (4) M. & Wg., Abb. Mus. Dresd. 1895 Mai! 
Nr. 8, p. 18. 
Figure and descriptions. Sharpe a VII\ Wallace al (Meyer has figured the skeleton of 
the allied B. tricolo)’ Gr. in Abb. v. Vogelskel. I, pi. XTJT^ 1883). 
Adult female. Above dark olive-bistre, duller on the rump and tail; remiges blackish; 
head, neck and upper breast very dai-k ferruginous, paler on chin and throat; 
under surface black, crossed with narrow white bars about 10 mm apart; sides of 
breast brown like the upper surface; under wing-coverts black, spotted with wlfite; 
remiges below blackish, with about four rows of transverse spots of white on the 
inner webs: “bill above black, elsewhere green; feet black; iris vermilion” (Q, Tomohon, 
10. Oct. 94: Sarasin Coll.). 
The specimen described is slightly the darkest in shade of five. 
Sexes. Sexual differences of coloration are not known to exist. 
Measurements. 
a. (Saras. Coll. Nr. 38) gad., Tomohon, 23. IV. 94 
b. (Sar. Coll. Nr.321) g ad., Tomohon, 10. X. 94 
c. (Saras. Coll; Nr. 239) g ad., Tomohon, 1.IV.94 
d. (C 261) ad., Gorontalo (Riedel 1875) . . . 
e. (C 13873) ad., Amurang, 16.Xn.94 (Nat. Coll.) 
Nest. A nest labelled as belonging to this species is a slig^tij iwul-wcu pa.u 
bamboo-leaf and stalk, inartistically laid together (Tomohon, 23. W. 
Distribution. Celebes and Sula: — Minahassa (Wallace J, Rosenberg 4, 
Distr. (Riedel in Dresd. Mus.); West Celebes — Tawaya (Doherty a 
(Allen 1, Hoedt 4). 
Wing 
Tail 
Tarsus 
Middle 
toe and 
claw 
Bill from 
lores 
140 
65 
45 
42 
20.5 
141 
70 
43 
41 
21 
143 
68 
43 
41 
20.5 
141 
73 
44 
41 
22 
138 
67 
42 
38 
20 
of pieces of dry 
94: P.&F. S.). 
etc.); Gorontalo 
8 ) ; Sula Islands 
I his Hail is easily recognisable among all other Celebesian species by its 
dark ferruginous head, neck and breast, its comparatively short toes, these being 
shorter than the tarsus, and its small bill. It belongs to a group of five similar 
species composing the genus Rallina, which, as Dr. Sharpe shows, ranges from 
India through the East Indies to N. E. Australia. R. minahassa is most like 
R. euryzonoides (Lafr.) of the Philippines which has the bands on the under- 
parts much broader (Sharpes plate does not show this sufficiently), as also the 
white spots on the under wing-coverts and remiges; a somewhat further depart- 
ure is R. superciliaris Eyt. of Ceylon, India and Malacca. The wide-spread 
R.fasdata (Rfl.), which ranges from Tenasserim to Borneo and Java — Sharpe 
says (Cat. B. XXIII, 76), apparently by mistake, to Celebes — re-occurs in 
Pelew, Burn and Halmahera; this bird has the upper wing-coverts barred 
with white. 
Nothing has been recorded about the habits of R. minahassa. Dr. E. P. 
Ramsay (P. L. S. 1875, 603) describes a nest of R. tricolor from .Rockingham 
Bay, N. E. Queensland, as containing four eggs, pale cream or whitish in ground- 
