Plate LXXVIII. 



PORZANA CASTANEICEPS. 



(CHESTNUT-HEADED CRAKE). 



: 



For sana castaneiceps 



Scl. & Salv. P.Z.S. 1868, p. 453. 



Supra olivacea ; capite undique et corpore subtus ad imum pectus castaneis, gula dulutiore : ventre imo, tibiis 

 et hypocliondriis dorso concoloribus : long, tota 8-0, ala3 4-4, rostri a rictu I'l, tarsi 2-0. 

 Hob. in repub. ^Equator, ad ripas fl. Napo. 



The eastern provinces of the Eepublic of Ecuador have as yet had but little attention 

 bestowed upon them by travelling Naturalists, though perhaps scarcely a richer field for 

 discovery remains unexplored in the whole continent of South America. The only localities 

 in this district whence any considerable collections of bird-skins have reached Europe are 

 Puerto del Napo and other villages on the Eiver Napo in the province of Quixos, where this 

 affluent of the mighty Amazon first becomes navigable. In 1854 Mr. Gould received a small 

 series of bird-skins from this district, and in 1858 a more extensive collection from the same 

 country reached the late M. Verreaux of Paris.* Since that period several other smaller 

 collections have been forwarded to Mr. Gould, but most of them have consisted mainly of 

 Trochilidse, which were especially required for the perfecting of his well-known Monograph 

 of that family. It was in one of these smaller collections, if we are not mistaken, that the 

 single example of the Crake which we now figure occurred. This specimen, which is the only 

 one we have ever seen, is now in the gallery of the British Museum, and has formed the type 

 of our description in the " Proceedings of the Zoological Society," as also of the present figure. 



The Chestnut-headed Crake is generally of the same form as the Pozana concolor, and 

 nearly resembles that species, but is immediately recognizable by the chestnut colouring 

 extending only over the head and front of the body below, the rest of the plumage being of an 

 olive-green. In P. concolor the whole plumage is of a nearly uniform rusty red, being rather 

 brighter below. 



The present species forms the fifth member of the uniformly coloured section of Porzana, 

 which Prince Bonaparte has called Rufirallus. It is perhaps hardly worth while to reprint 

 here the synopsis of this group, which we have recently published in the "Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society;" but we may take this opportunity to make an addition to the list of 

 synonyms there given. M. Coulon, of Neuchatel, having most kindly lent us the typical 

 example of Tschudi's Crex facialis, we find that this presumed species, which we were 

 obliged to leave undetermined in our paper, is nothing more than a very young example of 

 Porzana cayennensis. 



* See Sclater's articles on these two collections, in P.Z.S. 1854, p. 109 & 185S ; p. 59. 



January, 1869. 



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