Part 27

BLUE-BREASTED RAIL.

Rallus striatus Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 12 (1766), 1, 262. Hypotænidia striata Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1894), 23, 33; Hand-List (1899), 1, 95; Oates, Cat. Bird's Eggs (1901), 1, 111; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 15.

Tic-líng, general name for rails.

Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Cebu (Everett); Guimaras (Steere Exp.); Leyte (Everett); Luzon (Cuming, McGregor, Gevers); Mindanao (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Goodfellow); Mindoro (McGregor, Porter); Negros (Steere Exp., Keay); Palawan (Celestino, White); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Samar (Steere Exp.); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester); Sulu (Guillemard). Burmese countries to China, Malay Peninsula, Indo-Malay Islands, Southern India, Ceylon, Formosa, Celebes.

Adult male.--Above olive-brown, feathers centered with black and barred with broken white lines; crown, neck, and sides of neck dull chestnut, brighter on the last; center of crown blackish; chin and upper throat; lores, sides of face, and ear-coverts, lower throat, fore neck, and breast slate-gray; posterior lower part of body, under wing-coverts, and axillars blackish barred with white; alula blackish brown; primary-coverts and primaries blackish brown spotted and barred with white; tail and its coverts similar to the back. "Basal half of bill rose-pink, the anterior half horn-color; legs and toes deep olive-brown; claws pale brown; iris red." (Oates.) Length, 246; culmen, 38; wing, 120; tail, 47; tarsus, 37.

"Adult female.--Similar to the male, but paler and decidedly more olive, head not so bright chestnut; white bars on lower parts much tinged with fulvous. Length, 240; culmen, 35; wing, 110; tail, 41; tarsus, 35.

"In winter the plumage is entirely overshaded with olive-brown and there is a distinct fulvescent tinge on abdomen and under tail-coverts, almost hiding the black bars on the latter.

"Young.--Differs from the adults in having the bill black, and the upper surface much darker and without any white spots and bars on the back; head blackish, and back darker olive-brown with broad black centers to the feathers; no rufous on the head or sides of crown and sides of neck." (Sharpe.)

58. HYPOTÆNIDIA PHILIPPENSIS (Linnæus).

PECTORAL RAIL.

Rallus philippensis Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 12 (1766), 1, 263. Hypotænidia philippinensis Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1894), 23, 39; Hand-List (1899), 1, 96; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1901), 1, 113; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 16.

Batan (Edmonds); Luzon (Everett, Whitehead, McGregor). Pacific Islands, Malay Archipelago, Australia, New Zealand.

"Adult male.--General color above ochraceous-brown, all the feathers black, with ochraceous edgings, and spangled with white spots on the mantle and back; lower back and rump ochraceous-brown, with white centers to the feathers, but no white spots; wing-coverts like the back, but more uniform, and with scarcely any spots on the lesser and median series, the greater series, however, having large white spots and intermediate bars of black; alula black, checkered with white spots and bars; primary-coverts rufous, olive-brown at tip and banded with black; quills rufous, banded with black, and black at tips, the first two primaries checkered on the outer web and barred on the inner web with white; secondaries blackish, externally and at the tips ochraceous-brown, with numerous ovate spots or bars, the innermost secondaries ochraceous-brown, with broad black centers resembling the back; tail-feathers ochraceous-brown centered with black; crown of head olive-brown, with black longitudinal spots to the feathers; hinder neck ferrugineous, mottled with blackish centers to the feathers, which are edged with olive-brown, obscuring the rufous; lores and broad band through the eye dusky brown, becoming rufous on the ear-coverts and extending to the sides of the neck, where it is a little brighter rufous; over the lores a white band extending above the eye, and continued in a broad band of light ashy gray above the ear-coverts, and extending to the sides of the nape; cheeks light ashy gray, extending over the fore neck, which is washed with brown; fore part of the cheeks and throat white, remainder of under surface white, with black bars, very distinct, but narrow on the sides of fore neck, broader and more regular on the sides of body, where the feathers have olive-brown tips; flank feathers distinctly barred with black and white, the black bands being the broader; feathers at the sides of the vent tawny-buff, black at the base, and barred with white; long under tail-coverts black, with white bars, tawny-buff at the ends, the lower coverts tawny-buff, with black bases; thighs tawny-buff, dusky brown behind, under wing-coverts black, broadly edged with white; axillars black, barred with white. 'Bill warm brown; feet and claws light grayish brown; iris indian-red.' (Everett.) Length, 292; culmen, 32; wing, 145; tail, 67; tarsus, 39; middle toe with claw, 47." (Sharpe.)

Female.--An immature female agrees with the description of the male but the lower throat and fore breast are obscured with slate-gray and a slight olive wash. Bill dull brick-red, the terminal third brown; iris red; legs and nails light brown. Length, 305; wing, 136; tail, 73; culmen, 30; tarsus, 39; middle toe with claw, 43. This species is rare in Luzon.

59. HYPOTÆNIDIA TORQUATA (Linnæus).

PHILIPPINE RAIL.

Rallus torquatus Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 12 (1766), 1, 262. Hypotænidia torquata Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1894), 23, 43; Hand-List (1899), 1, 96; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 16.

Bantayan (McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Cagayancillo (McGregor); Camiguin N. (McGregor); Catanduanes (Whitehead); Cebu (Everett, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Dinagat (Everett); Leyte (Everett); Luzon (Cuming, Meyer, Everett, Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Mindanao (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Goodfellow); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Negros (Everett, Keay); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Samar (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Sibuyan (McGregor); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Ticao (McGregor); Verde (McGregor).

Adult (sexes alike).--Above olive-brown with a few, obscure, black lines on forehead; lores and circumocular area black, continued as a wide black band behind eye to side of nape; below this a wide white band from gape to neck, slightly washed with chestnut at its end; chin gray; throat and lower part of face black; lower throat and rest of lower parts black profusely banded with white; vent and under tail-coverts washed with clay-brown; a wide band of chestnut across breast; under wing-coverts and axillars barred with black and white like the breast. Iris red; bill, legs, and nails brown. Three males: Length, 317 to 330; wing, 151 to 155; tail, 54 to 65; exposed culmen, 41 to 43; tarsus, 52 to 53; middle toe with claw, 52 to 55. Two females: Length, 305, 317; wing, 142, 144; tail, 51, 60; exposed culmen, 39, 41; tarsus, 51, 52; middle toe with claw, 51, 52.

Young.--Resembles the adult but has more white on the chin; band across breast wider and olive-brown; vent and under tail-coverts barred with reddish brown.

"H. torquata usually deposits four eggs, more rarely three. The ground-color of the egg is creamy white, sparingly marked with spots and a few blotches of brown varying from dark chocolate to reddish, and with more numerous spots and blotches of pale lilac; all the markings more numerous at the larger end. Ten eggs average 38 by 28.4." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

The Philippine rail is the most abundant species of its family with the possible exception of Poliolimnas cinereus; both species are often taken in snares.

Genus RALLINA Reichenbach, 1849.

The species of this genus are of small size with short stout bills; middle toe with claw shorter than tarsus; head, neck, and chest chestnut; sides and abdomen barred with white.

Species.

a1. Wing-coverts broadly barred with white or buffy-white. ... fasciata (p. 70) a2. Wing-coverts uniform or with few irregular white bars. ... eurizonoides (p. 70)

60. RALLINA FASCIATA (Raffles).

MALAY BANDED CRAKE.