378 
ALECTORIDES. 
b. coturniculus. — FARALLON RAIL. 
Porzana jamaicensis, var. coturniculus, “Baird MS.” — Ridgw. Am. Nat. VIII. Feb. 1874, 111. 
Porzana jamaicensis, b. coturniculus, Coues, Birds N. W. 1874, 540. 
Porzana jamaicensis coturniculus, Bidgw. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. Vol. 3, 1881, 202, 222 ; Nom. N. 
Am. B. 1881, no. 576 a. — Coues, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 682. 
IIab. Temperate North America, north to Massachusetts, Northern Illinois (breeding), Kan- 
sas, Oregon, and California ; south through Western South America to Chili ; Cuba; Jamaica; 
Bermudas. The race coturniculus confined to the Farallon Islands, California. 
Sp. Char. Smaller than P. novcboracensis, and the smallest of North American Rallidce. 
Adult : Head, neck, and lower parts dark plumbeous or slate-color, darkest, and often nearly black, 
P. jamaicensis. 
on the pileum ; abdomen and crissum brownish black, marked with transverse bars of white ; nape 
and back dark chestnut or reddish sepia-brown, the other upper parts brownish black, with small 
dots and irregular transverse bars of white ; primaries immaculate dusky, or with small spots of 
white. Young : Similar, but lower parts dull ashy, the throat inclining to rvhite, and the crown 
tinged with reddish brown. Downy young : “ Entirely bluish black” (Cassin). Bill black ; iris 
red; “feet bright yellowish green” (Audubon 1 ). Total length, about 5.00 inches ; wing 2.50- 
3.20; culmen, .50-.60 ; tarsus, .85-.90 ; middle toe, .80-1.00. 
Several Chilian specimens in the collection of the U. S. National Museum appear to be exactly 
like specimens from the United States. A fine adult from San Francisco, Cal., in Mr. Henshaw’s 
collection, also agrees minutely with eastern specimens and those from Chili, mentioned above : 
but one (No. 12862) from the Farallon Islands, off the coast of California, differs in so many par- 
ticulars that Professor Baird has described it as a distinct local race (P. coturniculus'), with the 
following distinctive characters : Back without white specks ; cleptli of bill .15 of an inch, instead 
of .20-.25, the culmen being as long as the maximum in true P. jamaicensis. The general size is 
also smaller. 
So far as we are informed, this species — the smallest of our North American 
Rails — is of infrequent occurrence on the Atlantic coast. It is known to occur from 
the Delaware marshes about Philadelphia southward ; and is said to be more common 
1 In an adult male, killed June 6, 1879, near Washington, D. C., the fresh colors of the “soft parts” 
were as follows : Bill entirely deep black ; iris bright brick-red ; legs and feet brown, much the same color 
as the wing-coverts. 
