VOL. XVII, PP. 151-152 OCTOBER 6, 1904 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



DESCRIPTIONS OF FOUR NEW BIRDS FROM MEXICO. 

 BY E. W. NELSON. 



The birds described below were collected by Mr. E. A. Gold 

 man during the spring and summer of 1904 while continuing 

 the work of the Biological Survey in Mexico. 



Porzana gold man! sp. nov. 



MEXICAN YELLOW RAIL. 



Type No. 193,712, adult male, U.S. National Museum, Biological Sur 

 vey Collection. From Lerma, Mexico. Collected July 11, 1904, by E. A. 

 Goldman. Original No. 10,994. 



Geographic distribution. Known only from type locality in the Valley 

 of Toluca, Mexico. 



Specific characters. Generally similar to P. noveboracensis but darker, 

 the wings, flanks, and rump slaty blackish ; white markings on back in the 

 form of transverse spots ; bill slenderer. 



Description of type. Superciliary stripe, sides of head and neck dark 

 buffy mottled with narrow blackish edgings to feathers ; top of head and 

 nape blackish obscurely streaked with narrow dingy huffy edges of 

 feathers ; middle of shoulders streaked equally with black and rather dark 

 buffy; sides of shoulders, scapulars and tertials mainly black edged with 

 dark buffy ; the black middle of feathers marked with transverse oblong 

 white spots (usually two on each feather) ; rump blackish with small 

 white spots; primaries dark slaty; secondaries dark grayish with white 

 areas as in noveboracensis ; wing coverts blackish with small rounded white 

 spots ; chin and throat pale dull buffy shading on lower neck and breast into 

 dark dull buffy with feathers on sides of breast tipped with dusky ; belly 

 27 PROC. BIOL. Soc. WASH. VOL. XVII, 1904. (151) 



