338 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50 



Hellebrekers (Zool. Med. Nat. Hist. Leiden, vol. 24, 1942, p. 245) 

 gives the following description of a set of 6 eggs from Surinam in 

 the Penard collection : "Ground : light buff . . . some eggs with a very 

 slight greenish tinge. Spots : yellowish brown, sayal brown . . . especially 

 at the large end, and purplish under markings. Average measure- 

 ments in mm : 56.1 X 44.2." 



On both the Chagres and the Tuira the limpkin ate the local apple 

 snail Pomacea seteki Morrison. 



ARAMUS GUARAUNA DOLOSUS Peters 



Aramus pictus dolosus Peters, Occ. Pap. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 5, Jan. 

 30, 1925, p. 144. (Bolson, Guanacaste, Costa Rica.) 



Characters. — Olive-brown, with breast, sides, and wing coverts 

 heavily streaked with white ; back similarly marked but less heavily ; 

 secondaries with broad, partly concealed, white shaft streaks ; larger. 



Measurements (from Peters's original description). — Males (4 

 from Mexico and Costa Rica), wing 315-333 (324), culmen 123-127 

 (125.7), tarsus 126-135 (131.5) mm. 



Females (3 from Mexico, British Honduras, and Costa Rica), 

 wing 300-308 (304), culmen 102-115 (109.3), tarsus 117-119 (117.6) 

 mm. 



Status uncertain, rare. Recorded from western Bocas del Toro. 



A male in the Chicago Natural History Museum was taken by Hasso 

 von Wedel at Cricamola, Bocas del Toro, April 15, 1937. The only 

 other probable occurrence of this race is a limpkin that I saw on the 

 shore of an impoundment of water in the banana farms at Changuin- 

 ola on January 24, 1958, a bird that I stalked without success. This 

 subspecies ranges regularly from the lowlands of south central Mexico 

 and Honduras south to Costa Rica. To date it has not been recorded 

 in Guatemala. 



Schonwetter (Handb. Ool., pt. 5, 1961, p. 306) gives the measure- 

 ments of one egg of this race from Mexico as 58.0x45.6 mm. 



Family RALLIDAE : Rails, Gallinules, and Coots ; Cocalecas y 

 Gallinetas de Agua. 



Rails are found throughout much of the world, even on oceanic 

 islands, absent only in arctic regions. Typically they are marsh 

 inhabitants, with certain groups, the coots and gallinules, that swim 

 and feed like ducks in open waters. Some others have adapted to 

 dry land conditions, and may range in upland country, though these 

 seem to require access with regularity to water. The 9 species found 

 in Panama are widely distributed and may be locally common, but 

 are so retiring that little is known in detail of their manner of life. 



