1886.] PEOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 395 



REVIEW OF JAPANESE BIRDS. 

 By I.EONUARD STE JNECIER. 



III.-RAILS, GALIjINUI.es, AND COOTS. 



Uuly seven species belonging" to tbe family Ballidm have hitberto 

 been recorded as fonnd in Japan. It is pretty safe, however, to pre- 

 dict that members of this group will be found among the additions 

 which are sure to be made to the Japanese avifauna. In the lollowing 

 synopsis, therefore, 1 have included some forms which may be expected 

 to turn up in the southern parts of the empire, but to avoid confusion 

 they are given in brackets. 



The habits of the RalHdw are skulking and solitary, and the localities 

 they frequent mostly very difficult of access. Hence their presence is 

 often unknown to the inhabitants of the nearest neighborhood, and they 

 belong to the rarest birds in museums, few collections having really 

 good series which are not less necessary in this than in other groups. 



The material at my command is, therefore, very scanty, and this 

 fact, in connection with our general imperfect knowledge of these birds, 

 induces me to publish the following remarks in spite of their fragment- 

 ary character, hoping that they may be of some use in clearing up many 

 obscure points. By the aid of the synoptical tables it is thought that 

 ornithologists and sportsmen in the field will be enabled to determine 

 the known species, thus being in position to discover at once whether 

 the specimen they may have secured be new to the fauna or not. 



It need hardly be added that additional observations and specimens 

 will be very welcome, and due credit given. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE JAPANESE GENERA OF THE FAMILY BALLIDM. 



a^. Base of culmeu uormal. (Ralle^e.) 



h^. Exposed culmen much shorter than inner toe without claw ; hind toe with 

 claw longer than the distance from the tip of the chin feathering to the 



tip of the bill Porzana. 



&^. Exposed culmen much longer than the inner toe with claw ; hind toe with 

 claw much shorter than the distance from the tip of the chin feathering to 



the tip of the bill Ballus. 



a^. Culmen at base widened to at least three times the width at nostrils, or into a 

 broad plate which often covers the whole forehead like a bouy shield. 

 ft'. Toes without broad scalloped lobes (Gallinule^). 

 d. No trace of cutaneous margins along the toes. 



dK Hind toe with claw considerably longer than bill from loral ajiex; frontal 



shield very large, pointed behind, not carinated GalUcrex 



[rf2. Hind toe with claw considerably shorter than bill from loral apex; frontal 



shield very small, truncated behind, and carinated Amnuroruis.l 



c^. Toes with a narrow cutaneous margin along the sides GaUinula. 



62. Toes with l>road scalloped lobes (Fulice^) Fulica. 



