Vol i907^] Brewster, Notes on the Black Rail of California. 207 



spilonota (Gould) and P. sharpei (Rothsch. and Hart.) of the 

 Galapagos Islands. I have seen no example of true spilonota, but 

 two specimens of sharpei (from Indefatigable Island) before me have 

 bills quite as stout as those of typical representatives of jamaicensis . 

 For this reason I considered it improbable that either of the Gala- 

 pagos birds can have any very close relationship with the extremely 

 slender-billed type of coturniculus. 



The majority of my California specimens of the Black Rail are 

 even smaller than the type of coturniculus and at least two of them 

 have equally slender bills. In regard to the white markings of 

 their upper parts they vary considerably with age and to a less 

 degree individually. Several birds have the back only sparsely 

 and obscurely spotted, but in no one of them is it so nearly immacu- 

 late as in the type of coturniculus. Those with the least amount 

 of white are all young, as is the case with my eastern specimens, 

 also. I do not find that there is any constant or even average 

 difference between west and east coast birds with respect to this 

 spotting. 



In the light of the evidence just given it seems to me safe to con- 

 clude that the specimen of the so-called Farallone Rail, hitherto 

 regarded as unique, is nothing more nor less than a somewhat 

 aberrantly marked but otherwise quite typical, immature repre- 

 sentative of the Black Rail which inhabits the mainland of Cali- 

 fornia and is by no means uncommon there — at least locally. 

 This strongly characterized form should therefore bear the name 

 coturniculus. 



If my view of the matter as above stated be correct it is no longer 

 surprising that the type of coturniculus was obtained on the Faral- 

 lones, for these rocky islands lie due south of, and only about 

 twenty miles distant from, Point Reyes where, as we now know, 

 the California Black Rail occurs numerously in autumn. I am 

 not aware that it has been found breeding in the marshes on this 

 promontory although that it may do so, at least sparingly, seems 

 probable; nor have I knowledge that it ever frequents them in 

 winter. Indeed, the only definite evidence that I possess respect- 

 ing its seasonal occurrence there is that afforded by letters received 

 from Mr. Allen and by specimens of the birds which he has sent 



1 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIII, 1890, 311. 



