Uadeacribed First Plumages, Brewster 
118. Rallus virginiaiius. 
Downy stage : chick about a week old. Entirely clothed in long, rather 
coarse, glossy, or blue-black down. Bill nearly straight, .72 inches long, 
yellowish at tip and base, crossed in the middle by a broad black band. 
From two specimens in my cabinet collected by Mr. 1). C. French, at Con- 
cord, Mass., June, 1870. 
First plumage : female. Top and sides of bead, neck behind, back an- 
teriorly, rump, breast, and sides, dull dead black. Interscapular region 
black, with a few of the feathers margined with brownish-olive. Wing- 
coverts and wings nearly as in adult, a little duller and darker perhaps. 
Superciliary line obscure ashy. Throat asliy-wbite, finely spotted with 
black. Central region of lower breast and abdomen, with a few of the 
feathers on the sides, tinged with white. Anal region and crissum dull 
reddish-chestnut. In my cabinet, from Cambridge, Mass., August, 1875. 
Several other specimens of corresponding ages agree closely with the one 
above described. A male, however (Cambridge, August 9, 1875), differs 
in having a faint reddish wash over the white on the breast and abdomen. 
This species, as previously stated, passes through a regular first, plumage, 
which precedes the downy stage, and is in turn succeeded by the regular 
autumnal plumage. The first moult occurs in the latter part of August. 
The autumnal plumage is a little brighter than that of the adult in spring, 
but does not otherwise materially differ. 
BuJiN.O.C. 4, Jan., 1879, p. 
O.&O. Vtll.Feb. 1883. p. /A 
Rare Birds. — It will interest you to 
know that I have taken a. r>ure white Rail, 
