164 SENNETT on the Clapper Rails. [April 
Two specimens in my collection from Texas, strange as it may 
seem, are referable only to this form; moreover, nothing like it 
has been taken in Florida, which lies almost in direct line be- 
tween Texas and the West Indies. There is nothing in this 
country nor in England as yet to show the forms of Clapper Rail 
prevailing along the immense line of coast extending between the 
United States and Cayenne, South America. As it is not the 
habit of these birds to migrate over great expanses of land or 
water, it would indicate that the Texas carzheus found its way 
thither along the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico ; therefore 
it would be only reasonable to expect that we shall find this form 
along the entire Gulf coast of Mexico and the eastern coast of 
Central America. 
Rallus crepitans saturatus. This brown form was taken 
in February, 1869, at the Rigolets, near Lake Ponchartrain, a 
few miles from New Orleans, and was named eleven years later. 
Three specimens are now extant, all taken at the same place. 
Two of them (the types), which were in Mr. Henshaw’s collec- 
tion, are now in the British Museum, and the third is in the col- 
lection of Mr. Wm. Brewster of Cambridge, Mass. All of them 
were sent to me for study and comparison. Since these birds 
were named, efforts have been made at various times to secure 
others along the Gulf coast of the Southern States, but thus far 
(with the exception of the pronounced scvttzz of the west coast of 
Florida) only crepztans has been found. I have commissioned a 
collector to go to the exact place where this variety was taken, 
and on that spot, at a similar time of the year to look for this 
variety ; but at present writing no Rails referable to this variety 
have materialized. These three specimens of saturatws are 
wonderfully similar and are entitled to a subspecific classification. 
Up to the time of finding sco¢é2z7, four immature birds from 
Charlotte Harbor, Florida, in the National Museum, were referred 
to this form, but they are exactly like the young of Mr. Scott’s series 
from ‘l'arpon Springs, Florida, and must be considered scoé¢zz, 
as no adult saturatus has yet been taken in Florida. The birds 
are brown, very brown, with the edgings more olive brown than 
gray. The striping on the upper parts, both in extent and color, 
are about intermediate between crepztans and scottzz. Since 
late falland winter specimens of crefztans from Georgia and 
Louisiana are darker than spring or summer birds of the same 
