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Dr. Schlegel’s Porzana schomhurghi (Mus. de P. B. P a lli, p. 37) can liardly be of this species
if his description is correct.* It would appear to be more like Sclater’s P. erythrops, to which,
therefore, w e have provisionally refcri-ed it.
The original discoverer o f this Bail was Dr. Richard Schomburgk, who obtained a pair of
tlie species during his excursion to the Roraima mountains o f British Guiana in November, 1842,
at an elevation o f about 3300 feet above the sea-level, and gave a short description o f it in
the second volume o f his well-known travels. Dr. Schomburgk tells us that it is very easy to
catch it alive, as after a short flight it endeavours to conceal itself in the grass. He thus
captured a male and female and kept them for some time in a cage. From Guiana and
(Jayenue, it appears to extend into Venezuela, whence specimens have been forwarded by M.
Jjevraud to the Paris hluseum. The single specimen in the collection o f Messrs. Salvin and
Godman from which our figure is taken is from the latter country, and was obtained by Mr.
Anton Goering near Carip6.
* Dessu s (l’iu i b ru n olivâtre. Dessous g ris d’ardoise ; bas v e n tre e t sous-caudales n o ires a
blanches.
D ecemeee, 1S6S.
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