OBSERVATIONS ON THE FARALLON RAIL (PORZANA JAMAICEN- 

 SIS COTURNICULUS Baird). 



BY 



Robert Ridgway, 



Curator of the Department of Birds. 



The type of this species or subspecies, first described in 1874, still 

 remains unique, the ascribed localitj" (Farallon Islands, near San Fran- 

 cisco) having been repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, scoured for addi- 

 tional specimens by competent collectors, who unanimously assert 

 that no spot suitable for a bird of this family exists on those islands. 

 All that is now known concerning the history of the type specimen 

 (mounted and now in the National Museum collection) is, that it is one 

 of four birds i)resented to the Smithsonian institution in 1859 (entered 

 October 13) by Mr. T. C. Martin, the locality given being " Farallones, 

 Cal.", without date or other data. The other birds presented at the 

 same time by Mr. Martin are from various localities, as follows : Agelaius 

 guhernator, "S. Francisco;" Turdtis rnfopalliaUis, S , Tehuautepec, and 

 Progne chalybea, 9 , Tehuautepec; the last two collected by Colonel 

 Grayson. 



The bird in question was originally described as a variety or geo- 

 graphical race of Porzana jamaicensis, and it has been given that rank 

 in the A. O. U. Check List. In his "Birds and Eggs from the Faral- 

 lon Islands " * Mr. Walter E. Bryant refers to it as follows : 



Farallon Rail. — Regarding the claim of the unique specimen of this bird as a 

 valid variety, there does not appear to be sufficient grounds for its retention as a 

 separate form. In the light of Mr. Emerson's investigations, and that of others who 

 have visited the islands and found no rails or suitable places for them to live, there 

 seems to be but one conclusion to draw concerning it, and that is that it is an 

 abnormal specimen of P. jamaicensis. 



Whatever doubt there may be, however, of the present occurrence 

 of the bird on the Farallons, or even of the type specimen having re- 

 ally been obtained there, there can not, I think, be any question as to 

 its distinctness from P. jamaicensis. That it is not an " abnormal speci- 

 men" of the latter is almost certain, from the fact that si)ecimens of P. 

 jamaicensis from the mainland of California do not, api)arently, pre- 

 sent any differences either of size or coloration from those from the 

 Atlantic States, the West Indies, or Chili, notwithstanding numerous 

 examples have been compared. The possibility of its identity with a 

 little-known species inhabiting the Galapagos Islands has, however, 



'Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 2d ser., vol. i, 1888, i>p. 25-50. 



Proceedings National Museum, Vol. XIII, No. 828. 



309 



