Order RALLIFORMES. 
No. 3. 
Family RALLIDM. 
TRICHOLIMNAS SYLVESTRIS. 
LORD HOWE ISLAND RAIL. 
(Plate 3.) 
Tricholimnas Sharpe, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, Yol. I., p. sxvra., Jan. 26th, 1893. Type (by 
original designation) : Gallirallus lajresnaijanus Verreaux et des Murs. 
Ocydromus SYLVESTRIS Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1869, p. 472, pi. 35, April 1st, 1870 : 
Lord Howe Island. 
Ocydromus sylvestris Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1869, p. 472, pi. 35, April 1st, 1870 ; North, 
Rec. Austr. Mus., Yol. I., No. 1, p. 37, March 1890, pi. 1, egg. 
Cabalus sylvestris Sharpe, Bull. Brit. Om. Club, Vol. I., p. xxx., Jan. 26tli, 1893 ; id.. Cat. Birds 
Brit. Mus., Vol. XXIII., p. 48, 1894 (pref. Feb. 27th). 
Tricholimnas sylvestris Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 447, Jan. 1912 ; id., List Birds 
Austr., p. 319, 1913 (Dec.) ; Mathews and Iredale, Austral. Av. Rec., Vol. II., p. 109, 
Dec. 16th, 1920 ; Mathews, Syst. Av. Australas, p. 84, 1927. 
Distribution. Lord Howe Island. 
Adult male. General colour above, including the inner scapulars, lower back, rump and upper 
tail-coverts, olive-brown ; lesser, median and greater-coverts dull chestnut, widely barred 
with umber-brown : primary-coverts dull chestnut, more narrowly barred with umber- 
brown ; quills dull reddish-chestnut, regularly barred across both webs with blackish- 
brown ; tail-feathers similar in colour to the back ; crown of head, occiput, nape, hind- 
neck and fore-head dull olive-brown ; lores, eye-brow, sides of face, ear-coverts, cheeks, 
chin and throat whitish-grey ; chest, breast, abdomen, sides of body, flanks and thighs 
olive-brown; under tail-coverts olive-brown, barred with dull chestnut; under wing- 
coverts and axillaries umber-brown, with bars of white, mixed w T ith chestnut-red ; quills 
below chestnut, regularly barred with dull umber-brown ; bill dark horn-grey ; feet dark 
"icy; eyes red. Total length 420 mm. : culmen 53, wing 143, tail 68, tarsus 52. 
Figured. Collected on Mt. Gower, Lord Howe Island, on the 30th of June, 1914. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. Total length 377 mm.: culmen 48, wing 138, 
tail 63, tarsus 46. Collected on Mt. Gower on the 13th of June, 1914. 
1 mmature female. Rather like the adult. General colour above dull tawny-buff, lightest on the 
top of the head ; scapulars like the back, secondaries barred with rufous-chestnut; 
lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts rich tawny-buff; lesser and median' wing- 
coverts coloured like the back ; primaries and primary-coverts chestnut, regularly barred 
with black ; tail-feathers reddish-brown, the outermost pairs indistinctly barred with 
black; crown of the head, occiput, nape, hind-neck and fore-head tawny-buff ; sides of 
the face, ear-coverts and cheeks isabelline-buff ; chin and throat isabelline-grey; sides 
of neck and fore-neck brownish-buff ; chest, breast and abdomen reddish-buff ; sides of 
the body, flanks and thighs reddish-buff, indistinctly barred with whitish-buff ; under 
tail-coverts chestnut, barred with blackish-brown; under wing-coverts and axillaries 
3 
