157 



LEAST WATER RAIL. 



~)~Ortygometka jamaicensis, Briss. 

 PLATE CCC VIII.— Male, Female, and Young. 



My knowledge of this pretty little species is altogether derived from 

 Titian Peale, Esq., of Philadelphia, by whom, in October, 1836, I was 

 favoured with the following letter: — 



"I herewith send you the 'Little Rail' of which we were speaking 

 yesterday, and the letter of Dr. Rowan which relates to it. The young 

 died soon after I received them, but the old one lived with me until the 26th 

 of July (four days after its capture), evincing considerable anxiety for the 

 young, as long as they lived. Both young and old partook sparingly of 

 Indian meal and water, or bread and water, and soon became quite at home, 

 and probably might have been domesticated, had they been properly accom- 

 modated. 



"The most remarkable part of the history of this individual is, that after 

 its death we should have discovered on dissection that it was a male, render- 

 ing it singularly curious that he should have suffered himself to be captured 

 by hand while in defence of the young brood. 



"There is now in the Museum a specimen of this species, which has been 

 in the collection for about thirty years, said to have been caught in the 

 vicinity of the city. It stands labelled 'Little Rail, Rallus minutus, 

 Turton's Linn;' but the authenticity of the specimen has always been dis- 

 puted by Bonaparte and others, because none else had been found; and the 

 author just named expressed a belief that it was an immature specimen of 

 Rallus (Crex) Porzana of Europe. 



"I regret that I should have mislaid the measurements of the specimen 

 when recent, if any were taken, and cannot lay my hands on them, or any 

 thing more than the above notes. Respectfully yours, &c. 



Titian R. Peale." 



Inclosed in Mr. Peale's letter was the following note from Dr. Rowan 

 "to the Messrs. Peales." 



"On Saturday last I wrote to you of the Rail-bird breeding near this 

 place. I then described one that I caught last summer, which was unlike 

 the Rail in the fall season, and I presumed that all in the wet ground were 



Vol. V. 22 



