ON RALLUS LONGIROSTRIS, BODD., AND ITS GEOGRAPH- 
ICAL RACES. 
BY ROBERT RIDGWAY. 
Although, as rightly determined by Messrs. Solater and Salvin 
(cf. P. Z. S., 1868, p. 442), the oldest name of this species is Rallus 
longirostris, Bodd., the birds to which this name is strictly applicable 
are so different from those from other portions of America, referred 
by the above authors to the same species, that it appears necessary 
to recognize by name several geographical races. Comparing the 
South American bird (true longirostris) with the small and very dark- 
colored Gulf Coast form here named saturatus, the differences are 
indeed more striking than between longirostris in any of its forms 
and R. elegans, yet the latter is undoubtedly a distinct species. 
* On the destruction of birds from drowning see two items in this Bulletin 
,Vol. Y, pp. 44 and 192) in relation to inland waters, which are doubtless far 
less fatal than those of the oceans. 
Bidgway on Rallus Longirostris. 
139 
The Pacific Coast bird, described by me in 1874 (cf. Am. Nat., 
VIII, p. Ill) as “ R. elegans var. obsoletus ,” proves to be a true 
“Clapper” Rail, strictly confined to the salt-water marshes; and 
were it not for the very wide interval of territory separating it from 
any race of R. longirostris, it might be classed as a form of the 
latter species. In view of its complete isolation, however, taken 
together with its peculiar characters of coloration and form, it seems 
best to regard it as a distinct species. 
In the following synopsis are included not only R. longirostris and 
its races, but also all the) other known North American members of 
the genus. 
A. Size large ( wing more than 5 inches). 
a. Axillars and flanks dusky or reddish umber, with broad white bars 
(bars about .15 of an inch wide on the flanks), or narrow reddish-white 
and pale cinnamon bars. 
1. R. elegans. Back and scapulars ochraceous-olive, or yellowish- 
drab, sharply and conspicuously striped with black ; breast deep cinnamon. 
a. var. elegans. Flanks and sides dusky-brownish, widely and distinctly 
barred with pure white. Wing, 5.90-6.80; culmen, 2.12-2.50; least 
depth of bill, .27 - .35 ; tarsus, 2.20 - 2.40 ; middle toe, 1.80 - 2.10. Hab., 
freshwater marshes of Eastern North America. 
b. var. tenuirostris.* Flanks and sides reddish-umber, narrowly and 
indistinctly barred with reddish-white and dilute cinnamon ; breast and 
neck more deeply and uniformly cinnamon than in elegans. Wing, 5.90 ; 
culmen, 2.00-2.10; least depth of bill, .22; tarsus, 1.80-1.90; middle 
toe, 1.70. Hab., Mexico (Mazatlan, and city of Mexico). 
b. Axillars and flanks brownish-gray or grayish-brown, with narrow white 
bars (about .10 of an inch wide on flanks). 
2. R. obsoletus.f Back and scapulars grayish-olive, indistinctly striped 
with dusky; breast, deep cinnamon. Wing, 6.40-6.60; culmen, 2.25- 
2.50; least depth of bill, .32 -.35; tarsus, 2.10-2.25; middle toe, 2.00- 
2.15. Ilab., salt-water marshes of California. 
3. R. longirostris. Back and scapulars light liair-brown, brownish- 
gray, or ashy, obsoletely striped with brown (in Gulf-Coast specimens 
distinctly striped with dusky, much as in R. obsoletus) ; breast pale buff or 
dull cinnamon. 
a. var. longirostris. Above olive-gray, distinctly striped with van- 
* Rallus elegans tenuirostris, Lawr. 
Rallus elegans var. tenuirostris, Laws., Am. Nat., VIII, Feb. 1874, p. Ill 
(city of Mexico). 
t Rallus obsoletus, Ridgw. 
Rallus elegans var. obsoletus, Ridow., Am. Nat., VIII, Feb. 1874, p. Ill 
(coast of California). 
