20 Richmond, Habits of Porzana cinerciccps. I ^" 



brown of more immature birds. In the younger adults the gray 

 of the forehead, ear coverts, etc., is usually dull and much 

 restricted, and sometimes entirely absent. The barring of the 

 underparts varies considerably in different individuals, both in 

 the width of the white interspaces and in the intensity of the 

 black bars, but this is largely due to the condition of the plumage 

 — whether fresh, or worn and faded — and is of little value for 

 purposes of comparison. Porzana alfari Ridgw. is a specimen in 

 fresh plumage without any line of unmarked white on the 

 abdomen, but with deep black bars and narrow white interspaces. 

 Two specimens of P. albigiilaris (Lawr.) in the National Museum 

 Collection are, on the other hand, barred with dull brownish 

 black, and at first sight appear to be quite distinct from the 

 above specimen. A third example of P. albigiilaris from Frijole 

 Station, Panama R. R., is heavily barred below with deep black, 

 but the white interspaces are wider than in the specimen of P. 

 alfari, otherwise it matches the latter very closely. 



As to markings or bars on the wings, these may be due to sex ; 

 at any rate, in P. cinereiceps the two most strongly barred ones 

 examined by me are females. These two birds have the lesser 

 and middle wing-coverts well barred with white ; some of the 

 feathers have two bars, others only one ; the feathers thus 

 barred are almost black, and give the bird the appearance of 

 having a black shoulder, barred with white. In a male of this 

 species there are traces of white bars edged with chestnut on 

 one wing, but no signs of bars on the other. Two other males 

 have distinct spots of chestnut on the lesser and middle coverts. 

 Of four specimens of P. albigiilaris, one has a few chestnut spots 

 on each wing ; one has slight chestnut spots on both sides, and 

 a trace of white bars on one side ; the third and fourth have 

 both white and chestnut bars, without spots. In one of the 

 latter examples (sex unknown), the barred feathers are not 

 darker than usual. The specimen of P. alfari is entirely with- 

 out bars of white, or chestnut spots. 



A specimen of P. melanophaia (Vieill.) from Eahia has white 

 bars on each wing. In a note on Porzana albigiilaris Messrs. 

 Sclater and Salvin^ write : " In these figures it will be noticed 



'Exotic Ornithology, VII, 1868, p. 109, pi. Iv. 



