﻿456 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. lOO 



This specimen agrees in coloration better with an unsexed bird from 

 Laguna de Fuquene, Cundinamarca, Colombia, than with a shghtly 

 paler female from Culata, Venezuela, but it has a larger, stronger bill 

 than either. This may be due to difference in sex; culmen from the 

 base 20.8 mm. 



A little-known, rarely collected bird, each additional specimen adds 

 a little to the available data on the distribution and characters of 

 this little rail. It was abundant during August at puddles or rain 

 water along a short stretch of dirt road outside Caicara. It was known 

 among local hunters as a bird that appeared in the bottomlands in 

 August only to disappear again until the following year. The collector 

 searched suitable places with great care during other months, always 

 unsuccessfully. 



Local name, "turututu." 



GALUNULA CHLOROPUS PAUXILLA Bangs 



Gallintda chloropus pauxilla Bangs, Proc. New England Zool. Club, vol. 5, 1915, 

 p. 96 (Guabinas, Rfo Cauca, western Colombia). 



SPECIMEN COLLECTED 



1 cT, Caicara, June 20, 1947; gonads small; iris dark brown, bill yellow-green 

 at tip, red at base, feet yellow-green, orange above the "hock" (ankle). 



Wetmore (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 87, 1939, pp. 190-191) has 

 recorded pauxilla as far east as Independencia, below Ocumare de la 

 Costa, northern Venezuela. The present example, with a wing length 

 of 167 mm., is somewhat intermediate between pauxilla and galeata 

 but nearer the former, of which race this seems to be the most eastern 

 published record. It is an adult in good plumage. 



Both this and the next species were present on some semipermanent 

 ponds in the vicinity of Caicara. They were not present on all ponds, 

 even when conditions appeared favorable, nor were they recorded at 

 all in the vicinity of Cantaura. On the pond where the Porphyrula 

 was taken, both species were present in about equal numbers. How- 

 ever, on some other ponds only one or the other of the two species was 

 recorded. Both withdraw from the area toward the end of the dry 

 season. The present subspecies was recorded in June, July, August, 

 and November. 



PORPHYRULA MARTINICA (Linnaeus) 



Fulica martinica Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 259 (Marti- 

 nique, West Indies). 



specimen collected 



1 9 , about 10 km. south of Urica, August 30, 1948; gonads slightly enlarged; iris 

 brown, bill with tip yellow ■with a greenish cast, the base red, frontal shield light 

 blue, feet yellow with a greenish cast; gizzard contained seeds; bird was rather fat; 

 plumage quite abraded, one wing damaged by shot. 



Recorded in August and November. 



