FEB £9 i9i6 



Mat 17. 1015 Vol. V. pp. 93-99 



PROCEEDINGS 



NEW ENGLAND ZOOLOGICAL CLUB 



THE AMERICAN FORMS OF GALLINULA CHLOROPUS 



(LINN.). 



BY OUTRAM BANGS. 



I BELIEVE no attempt has yet been made properly to subdivide 

 the American gallinule into local races within the immense area it 

 occupies. Two forms have received names, in addition to the 

 typical one of southern Brazil, and I now propose to name two 

 more, making in all five subspecies. This is by no means excessi\ e, 

 and I fancy a still larger series of skins than that contained in the 

 IMuseum of Comparative Zoology, might well reveal the existence 

 of still other recognizable forms; and this paper does not claim to 

 be in any sense an exhaustive review. 



The almost universal custom of ornithologists has been to con- 

 sider the American gallinule as specifically distinct from Gallinula 

 chloropus of the Old World. Hartert (Novitates Zoologicje, V, 

 pp. 62-64, 1894) questioned the correctness of this arrangement, 

 and Rothschild (Avifauna of Laysan, pp. 247-248, 1893-1900) says 

 that, in his opinion, their relationship is best expressed by thxi use 

 of trinomials. The two forms are very closely related and can 

 be distinguished with certainty only by the shape of the frontal 

 shield, the posterior outline of which in the American bird is 



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