PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



j| by (he 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. 84 Washington : 1937 No. 3018 



A REVISION OF THE CLAPPER RAILS (RALLUS 

 LONGIROSTRIS BODDAERT) 



By Harry C. Oberholser 

 Bureau of Biological Survey, United States Departriicnt of Agriculture 



INTRODUCTION 



The marsh birds called clapper rails form an interesting group. 

 Relatively little from a taxonomic standpoint has been written con- 

 cerning them, and most of the literature consists of scattered notes 

 and descriptions of new forms. There has been, so far as the writer 

 is aware, no recent publication that could be considered a thorough- 

 going review of their characters and relationships, except perhaps that 

 in James L. Peters's recent check-list.^ This, however, is intended to 

 be but a check-list, though including the distribution of the various 

 forms. Apparently the best previous treatment of these rails is that 

 by Robert Ridgway in 1880.^ About 25 years ago the writer prepared 

 a revision of these raUs, which for one reason or another has until now 

 remained impublished. As several rather unexpected results de- 

 veloped from this study, it seems worth vvdiile to put them into print. 



For the purpose of this investigation about 500 specimens have been 

 examined, including 21 types, which latter represent nearly all the 

 races. The sources of tliis material were chiefly the collections of the 

 United States National Museum at Washington, including that of the 

 Biological Survey; the American Museum of Natural History, New 

 York City; the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Pa.; 



1 Check-list of birds of the world, vol. 2, pp. 157-160, 1934. Cambridge, Mass. 



' On Ralliis longirostris Boddaert, and its geographical races. Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, vol. 5, no. 3, 

 pp. 138-140, July 1880. 



127716—37 1 313 



