704 
Birds of Celebes: Rallidae. 
Limnocorax niger (1) Gurney, Ibis 1868, 470; (2) Sharpe, Cat. B. 1894, XXIII, 150; 
(3) R. & J. Woodward, Ibis 1897, 401. 
For further synonymy and references cf. Sharpe 2. 
Figure and descriptions. Swainson b I, Sharpe 2. 
Adult. Black, with a slaty tone on mantle, wing-coverts and under-parts, a brown tone on 
lower back and scapulars ; “mis and eyebrows crimson, bill yellowish grass-green, feet 
coral red” — Blittik. c4 (Cape — Xr. 11476). 
Sex. The sexes are alike in coloration. 
Young. “Chocolate-brown, instead of black like the adult, with a little ashy grey,, showing 
the adult plumage; lores and feathers above and below the eye whitish; under sur- 
face of body ashy grey, whiter on the cheeks and throat” (Sharpe 2). 
Chick. Jet-black, covered with hairy down, pointed with white in very young specimens on 
the head, especially on the chin; terminal half of upper and lower bill shining wax- 
white, base of latter black; cutting edge of upper bill wax-black continued to the 
gape, a shield of deep flesh-colour (from Bohm c 2], 
Eggs. Apparently 2 — 6 in number; light yellow-brown, sprinkled with finer and larger spots 
of dark brown: size 41—44 X 29 — 30 mm (from Bohm). 
Nest. Round, flat, somewhat inartistically fashioned of rush stalks; one found by Reichard 
in a clump of grass a foot above the water (Bohm). 
Distribution. Nearly the whole of Africa (Sharpe 2); North Celebes (Meyer d 3, c 3). 
An example of this African Crake was killed by Meyer near Manado in 
March, 1871. The record is surprising, but there appears to be no reason to 
doubt the accuracy of the locality, as Cabanis has done (e 2) on grounds be- 
lieved by Mey er (c 3) to he insufficient. Rails have a knack of finding them- 
selves in all sorts of out-of-the-way places, and there is nothing more unusual 
in the occurrence of Limnocorax niger in Celebes than in that of Hgpotaenidia 
philippensis in Mauritius, of Amaurornis cinerea in the Carolines, of Porzana 
tabuensis in New Zealand and Australia as well as Polynesia. A particularly 
good parallel among other birds is the occurrence of Scops manadensis of Celebes 
(or a scarcely separable race of it) in Madagascar, which again may be com- 
pared with Konig’s discovery of a small Cuban Owl (Glauddmm siju) in the 
Canaries (J. f. O. 1890, 336). 
For remarks on the habits of the Black Crake, Ayres (d 2, 1 etc.)-, Bohm 
(c 2) and Biittikofer (c 4) may be consulted. The last-named observer writes 
that he never saw it swimming in Liberia, and Dr. Bohm in E. Africa hardly 
ever saw it in water, or on the wing. It is wary, hasting to concealment by 
running when alarmed, but sometimes it may be seen walking “with a most 
graceful step and nodding head on the mud and, as much as possible, beside 
and through the high grass” (Biittikofer). Several nests with eggs and young 
were found by Dr. Bohm, as described above. 
GENUS AMAURORNIS Eclib. 
Bill equal to or slightly longer than the cranium, compressed, high — 
about twice as high as broad across the nostrils, slightly swollen at the base 
