54 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



72. Rallus virginianus Linne. 

 Virginia Rail. 



An accidental migrant which occasionally appears in the Havana market. 



73. Pardirallus maculatus inoptatus (Bangs). 

 Spotted Rail; Gallinuela Escribano. 



In Gundlach's time this bird was far from rare, and as it lived in the 

 open pastures about ditches and reedy banks of streams as well as in swamps 

 and fens, it often found its way to the Havana market. It apparently 

 was confined to the Provinces of Havana and Matanzas, and there are 

 no records for either the most eastern or most western Provinces of the 

 Island. Ever since I first saw the single specimen mounted in Gundlach's 

 collection, I sought news of this bird. I came to the conclusion that it had 

 wholly disappeared, and was well satisfied to get a somewhat faded 

 specimen, mounted for many years, from a case of stuflFed birds in a 

 Matanzas school; I owe my thanks, for helping me get this bird, to my 

 dear old friend Carlos de la Torre, Rector of the National University of 

 Havana. Then, in February, 191 3, I chanced to visit the market at early 

 dawn of the very day on which I planned to sail for Key West. There was 

 but a single bird hanging in the principal stall where game was sold, and 

 that was the beautiful fresh specimen which I brought Bangs, to be his type. 

 I found that it had been sent in by a market gunner who lived near the 

 Escalera de Jaruco. Since then I have made many efforts to learn more 

 regarding the bird's habits and to get additional specimens, but in vain. 

 One other specimen has come to the market, and this was secured by Victor 

 Rodriguez, Professor de la Torre's amiable young assistant, and the skin 

 is now in C. T. Ramsden's private collection in Guantanamo. 



Thus there is just a chance that the Spotted Rail, — densely spotted 

 with white on a brown ground color, and a perfectly unmistakable form, — 

 still exists in very diminished numbers. Its range unfortunately coincided 

 with the most densely populated part of the Island and the very region 

 where the mongoose fast became abundant after its introduction. In 

 Jamaica the Rail disappeared without a single specimen having been saved. 



