BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 67 



plumage this race differs from the Cuban birds only in that the gray- 

 ish predominates over the buff on the breast and throat in former and 

 the opposite is true in the latter.^^ 



Juvenal. — Similar to the pale juvenals of Rallus longirostris cubanus 

 but whiter on the abdomen and slightly more grayish, less pinkish buff 

 on the sides of neck and the lower throat. 



Natal down. — Unrecorded. 



Adult male.—Wmg 135-155 (146) ; tail 57.5-67.5 (61.8) ; exposed 

 culmen 60.5-66 (63.3) ; tarsus 50-59 (55.3) ; middle toe without claw 

 44_49.5 (46.4 mm.).«^ 



Adult feinale.—W'mg 127.5-149 (134.3) ; tail 53-62.5 (58.6) ; exposed 

 culmen 51.5-59.5 (56.3) ; tarsus 45-51.5 (49.3) ; middle toe without 

 claw 39-43.5 (41.2 mm.) 



Range. — Resident in and restricted to the mangrove swamps of the 

 Isle of Pines (Majagim River; Los Indios; Nueva Gerona). 



Type locality. — Majagua River, Isle of Pines. 



Rallus longirostris leucophacus Todd, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, xsvi, 1913, 

 174 (Rio Majagua, Isle of Pines, Cuba; Coll. Carnegie Mus.) ; Ann. Carnegie 

 Mus., X, 1916, 201 (Los Indios and Rio Majagua, Isle of Pines; descr. ; meas- 

 urements; crit. ; habits) ; sviii, 1928, 336 (type spec; crit.). — Barbour, Birds 

 Cuba, 1923, 53. — Obeeholser, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. Isxxiv, 1937, 332 (monogr. ; 

 crit.). 



Rallus longirostris cariiaeus Peters, Check-list Birds of World, ii, 1934, 158, 

 part. 



Rlallus] l[angirostris'\ caribaeus Bond, Birds West Indies, 193G, 87, part (Isle of 

 Pines). 



RALLUS LONGIROSTRIS VAFER Wetmore 



HisPANiOLAN Clapper Rail 



Adult (sexes alike). — Three "phases" according to the intensity of 

 the color of the centers of the dorsal body feathers — dark fuscous 

 to fuscous-black; sepia; or olive-brown to buffy brown; generally 

 similar to Umnetis but larger and darker above, the edges of the dorsal 

 body feathers more brownish and with a cinnamomeous malar stripe 

 better developed ; the light phase similar belovv^ to the paler specimens 

 of Umnetis; the intermediate one like the darker Puerto Rican birds ; 

 the dark phase very dark below — the entire sides of neck, throat. 



•" I have seen six specimens of the pale phase and only two of the dark phase. 

 That this proportion may not be typical is suggested by Peters (Check -list Birds 

 of World, ii, 1934, 15S', footnote) who writes that "none of a series of fourteen 

 adults . . . from the Isle of Pines even approach the characters claimed for 

 leucophaetis in the original description, but are indistinguishable from a series 

 of seven adults from Cuba." His birds sound like dark phase examples, which 

 are very close to Cuban birds. If the dark phase should prove to be the com- 

 moner of the two, it might be well to lump leucophaeus and cubanus, with merely 

 a geographical phase variation within the subspecies. 



"" Twelve specimens of each sex, including the type. 



