Luzon (Meyer, McGregor). New Hebrides, Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Chatham, Samoa, and Fiji Islands.
Adult (sexes alike).—Above including wings reddish chocolate-brown; rump slightly darker; head and neck blackish; sides of face and under parts dark slate-gray; chin and throat more or less whitish; under tail-coverts black with white bars; edge of wing, first alula quill, and first primary white; under wing-coverts mottled with ashy brown and white. Bill black; iris and eyelids brick-red; legs and feet light salmon; nails dark brown. Ten specimens from the vicinity of Manila measure: Length, 165 to 178; wing, 69 to 78 (average 75); tail, 36 to 44 (average 40); exposed culmen, 15 to 19 (average 16); tarsus, 23 to 26 (average 25); middle toe with claw, 29 to 32 (average 31).
“Young.—Differs from the adult in having the throat white and the center of chest and abdomen for the most part white.” (Sharpe.)
At times great numbers of this little rail are sold in the Manila markets, but I have never taken a specimen in the field.
Genus POLIOLIMNAS Sharpe, 1893.
Tarsus less than middle toe with claw and less than twice the culmen; plumage of under parts mostly white.
64. POLIOLIMNAS CINEREUS (Vieillot).
ASHY CRAKE.
- Porphyrio cinereus Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. (1819), 28, 29.
- Poliolimnas cinereus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1894), 23, 130; Hand-List (1899), 1, 104; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 17.
Basilan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Bohol (McGregor); Calayan (McGregor); Cebu (Steere, Everett, Bourns & Worcester); Dinagat (Everett); Guimaras (Steere Exp.); Leyte (Everett, Steere Exp.); Luzon (Bourns & Worcester, Cuming, Whitehead, McGregor); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Mindanao (Everett, Bourns & Worcester); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester, Porter); Negros (Bourns & Worcester); Panay (Bourns & Worcester); Sibuyan (McGregor); Siquijor (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Ticao (McGregor). Oceania, Malayan Peninsula, Greater and Lesser Sunda Islands, Buru, Australia.