GYMNOCREX PLUMB‘EIVEHTH,1®:
GYMNOCREX PLUMBEIYENTRIS.
Grey-bellied Rail.
Rallus plumbeiventris, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861, pp. 432, 438.—Finsch, Neu-Guinea, p. 180 (1865).
Rallino, plumbeiventris, Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Ralli, pp. 17, 78 (1865).—Id. Ned. Tijdschr. Dierk. iii. p. 349
(1866).—Gray, Hand-1. B. iii. p. 58, no. 10402 (1871).—Sharpe, Joum. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 505 (1877).
Rallus hoeveni, Rosenb. Nat. Tijdschr. Nederl. xxix. p. 144 (1867).—Schlegel, Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk. iii. p. 349
(1866).—Rosenb. Reis naar Zuidoostereil. p. 53 (1867).
Rallus intactus, Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869, p. 120, pi. x.—T ris tram , Ibis, 1882, p. 144.
Rallino Intacta, Gray, Hand-1. B. iii. p. 58, no. 10404 (1871).
Gymnocrex plumbeiventris, Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, vii. p. 793 (1875).—D’Albert. & Salvad. op. cit. xiv.
p. 129 (1879).—Salvad. op. cit. xviii. p. 320 (1882).—Id. Orn. della Papuasia e delle Molucche, iii.
p. 268 (1882).
M r. W allace first discovered the present species o f Rail in the island o f Mysol, and the Dutch travellers
Dr. Bernstein and Mr. Bruijn afterwards procured it in the Molucean Islands of Morty o r Morotai and
Halmahera. Von Rosenberg has also met with it in the Aru Islands, and Signor D ’Albertis found it on the
Fly River in Southern New Guinea. I t had previously been brought by Mr. Stone from Momile, a
locality in South-western New Guinea, to the interior o f P o rt Moresby. As Count Salvadori has pointed
out, we erroneously spoke o f the original specimen as coming from Morty Island instead o f Mysol, when
we were describing Mr. Stone’s collection. A bird procured in the Solomon Islands and forwarded by
Mr. Gerrard Krefft, o f Sydney, to Dr. Sclater, was named by him Rallus intactus. Count Salvadori has
carefully examined the latter specimen and compared it with the type, and has come to the conclusion that
the two are identical.
Nothing is known o f the habits o f this fine Rail, which, on account o f its bare face, is included by Count
Salvadori in his genus Gymnocrex, along with G. rosenbergi o f Scblegel, from Celebes.
T h e following is a description o f the type specimen ._>
Adult. General colour above ochraceous brown ; wing-coverts like the back, the g reater coverts with a
reddish tinge externally; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills chestnut, with a little oehreous brown at
the tips and on the outer web, the inner secondaries ochraceous brown like the b a ck ; lower back, rump,
upper-tail coverts, and tail-feathers b lack ; crown o f head and hind neck deep chestnut, as also the lores,
sides o f face, ear-coverts, cheeks, throat, sides o f neck, and fore neck, with the throat paler and more ashy
whitish ; chest and remainder o f under surface leaden grey, blacker on the abdomen, sides o f body, and
flanks ; thighs leaden g r e y ; under tail-coverts black ; under wing-coverts and axillaries black, mottled with
broad white tips a t the end o f the feathers ; quills below chestnut, a little more dusky at the ends. Total
length 13 inches, culmen 2*1, wing 7' 1, tail 2 ‘7, tarsus 2*2.
The figure in the Plate represents an adult bird o f the size of life, and has been drawn from the type
specimen o f Rallus intactus, recently presented by Dr. Sclater to the British Museum.
[R. B. S.]