198 
VARIABLE RAIL. 
chin, sides of the head, and part of the front of the 
neck, greyish -white ; the rest of the head and neck, the 
lower belly, thighs, and tail, are dusky grey-brown : 
the breast, upper part of the belly and quills, bright 
reddish-rufous : the back and wing-coverts are dull 
white : the legs are red. The young are wholly 
grey till after the first moult. This bird inhabits 
Guiana and Cayenne, and preys on small fish and 
insects, and is common in the marshy places. 
VARIABLE RAIL. 
(Rallus varians.) 
Rx.fuscus nigro alboque maculatus et striahts, corpore subtiis sii- 
perciliisque cinereis vel griseis. 
Brown Rail spotted and striated with black and white, with the 
body beneath and eyebrows cinereous or griseous. 
Rallus Philippensis. Lath. Ind, Orn. 2. 766. /3. 8. 
Philippine Rail, var. A. B. Lath. Gen. Syn. 5. 231, 232.pl. 86. 
The first variety of this species is figured and de- 
scribed by Latham as below. " Length ten inches : 
beak an inch and a quarter, and brown : nostrils in a 
long furrow : the head and sides, taking in the eye 
and nape, ferruginous-chesnut : from the base of the 
beak over the eye passes a pale streak almost to the 
hind head : the upper part of the body brown, but 
each feather marked with a black and white trans- 
verse stripe near the end, giving the appearance of 
