Order RALLIFORMES. 
No. 71A. 
Family RALLIDjE. 
RALLUS TENEBROSUS. 
DARK RAIL. 
“ Dark Rail ” Latham, General History of Birds, Vol. IX., p. 378, 1824. Norfolk Island. 
Length between seven and eight inches. Bill dusky, both mandibles inclining 
to each other, and pointed at the ends ; irides red ; general colour of the plumage 
of the head, neck, and body, dusky black, with a deep blue tinge ; back and 
wings deep brown ; under wing coverts cinerous, with dark spots ; legs pale 
red ; toes very long ; claws hooked at the end ; tail short, and the wings reach to 
about the middle of it. Met with in Norfolk Island, in the South Seas in 
December. Mr. Francillon. 
To this description Gray, in the July Ibis, 1862, p. 239, note, published the 
manuscript name given by Latham of JRallus tenebrosus. 
In his “ Check-list of Birds of the World,” Vol. II., July 15th, 1934, p. 187, 
Peters considered that this may be an “ imaginary species ”. 
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