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PORZANA CASTANEICEPS.
(CnESTNÜT-IDLADED ClEAIvE).
P o rza n a castaneieeps Sel. & S a k . P.Z.S. 18C8, p . 453.
S u p ra olivacea; c ap ite u n d iq u e e t c orpore su b tu s a d im u n i po c tu s castan eis, g u la d iilu tio ro : v e n tre imo, tibiis
e t bypochoudriis dorso concoloribus ; long, to t â S'O, alæ 4 ’4, r o s tr i a r ic tu I T , ta rs i 2'0.
Ha b . in rep u b . Æ q u a to r. ad rip as fl. Napo.
The eastern provinces o f the Republic o f Ecuador have as y et had but little attention
bestowed upon them by travelling Naturalists, though perhaps scarcely <a richer field for
discovery remains unexplored in the -whole continent o f South America. The only localities
in this district whence any considerable collections o f bh-d-skins have reached Europe are
Puerto del Napo and other villages on the River Napo in the province o f Quixos, -where this
affluent o f the mighty Amazon first becomes navigable. In 1854 Mr. Gould received a small
series o f bird-skins from this district, and in 1858 a more extensive collection from the same
country reached the late M. Verreaux of Paris.* Since that period several other smaller
collections have been forwarded to Mr. Gould, but most o f them have consisted mainly o f
Trochilidæ, which were especially required for the perfecting o f his well-known Monograph
o f that family. It was in one o f these smaller collections, i f we ai-e not mistaken, that the
single example o f the Crake rvhich we now figure occurred. This specimen, -which is the only
one -we have ever seen, is now in the gallery o f the British Museum, and has formed the type
of our description in the “ Proceedings o f the Zoological Society,” as also o f the present figure.
Tho Chestnut-headed Crake is generally o f the same fonn as the Pozana concolor, and
nearly resembles that species, but is immediately recognizable by the chestnut colouring
extending only over the head and front o f the body below, the rest o f tbe plumage being o f an
olive-green. In P. concolor tbe wlrole plumage is o f a nearly uniform rusty red, being rather
brighter below.
The present species fonns the fifth member o f tbe unifonnly coloured section o f Ponana,
which Prince Bonaparte has called Pufirallus. It is perhaps hardly wortli while to reprint
Jiei-e the synopsis o f this group, which w c have recently published iu the “ Proceedings o f the
Zoological Society;” but we may take this opportunity to make an addition to the list of
synonyms there given. M. Coulon, o f Neuchatel, having most kindly lent us the typical
example o f Tschudi’s Crex facialis, we find that this presumed species, whicli wc were
obliged to leave undetermined in our paper, is nothing more than a very young example of
Porzana cayennensis.
* See Sc la ter’s a rtic le s o n th e se two collections, in P.Z.S . 1854, p. lOD & 1858, p. 59.
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