346 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I50 



During field work on Isla San Jose in 1944 I found these rails 

 common but so shy that, though I heard them constantly, it was only 

 on occasion that I had a glimpse of one in the undergrowth of the 

 forest. They were recorded in my notes almost daily but mainly 

 from their calls, or from their tracks, seen in the dust of trails and 

 roadways. During February and March they ranged in pairs. Later 

 in the season, as construction work concerned with a field laboratory 

 for chemical tests spread, they became more accustomed to human 

 presence through the many workmen engaged on roads and trails, and 

 were less timid. After my departure, Morrison, who remained on 

 the island, secured a dozen adults and one young bird in down 

 taken July 22. 



This race is like the form of Isla del Rey in small size, but in 

 the series from the two islands available, morrisoni differs definitely 

 in darker color. It should be noted that San Jose and Pedro Gonzalez 

 are separated from the shallow bank around Isla del Rey by depths 

 of 12 to 15 meters or more. 



ARAMIDES AXILLARIS Lawrence: Rufous-crowned Wood Rail; Cocaleca 



Cabecicastana 



Aramides axillaris Lawrence, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, June 3, 1863, 

 p. 107. (Barranquilla, Colombia.) 



Smaller than the gray-necked wood rail, with head and neck rufous- 

 brown. 



Description. — Length 250-280 mm. Adults (sexes alike), head, 

 upper hindneck, foreneck, and breast rufous-brown; throat white; 

 lower hindneck and extreme upper back gray; back and scapulars 

 olive brown ; wings chestnut ; rump, tail, flanks, and under tail coverts 

 black ; center of abdomen grayish brown ; under wing coverts white, 

 barred with black. 



Immature, neck and breast grayish brown. 



A male taken on January 19, 1963, at Puerto Aguadulce had the 

 iris orange-brown; bill greenish gray, darker toward the tip, with 

 the side of the maxilla behind the nostril, and the base of the mandible 

 shading from this grayer shade to dull honey yellow which becomes 

 true honey yellow on the lower half of the base of the mandible; 

 crus, tarsus and toes dull red ; claws black. 



Measurements. — (From Ridgway and Friedmann, U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 Bull. 50, pt. 9, 1941, p. 125). 



Males (18 from Mexico and Colombia), wing 163-174 (169), tail 

 53-63 (58.3), exposed culmen 39.5-46.0 (43.7), tarsus 52.5-63.0 

 (59.5) mm. 



