y ! Iii- ,
i ii|i î:.. Ù
P l a t e L X X X I I .
RALLUS ANTARCTICUS.
(EUPOUS-WINGED RATf,).
Jla llu s antarclicus
liu llu s Tufopennis
lia llu s uliginosus
K in g , Zool. J o u rn . iv . p. 95 (1828).
Sel. & Salv. P.Z.S. 1S6S, p. 445.
G. E . Gray, L is t o f Specimens o f Bird s in B rit, Mua, iii. p. 116 (1844).
P h ilip p i, Wiegm. Arch. 1S 5 8 ,1 , p. 8.3.
S uprà b ru n n eu s nigro flammulatus, alis extiia d ü u tè ru fis : a larum remigibus n ig ric an tib u s, u n ie o lo rih u s : su b tu s
plum b cu s : la te rib u s e t su b a larib u s n ig ris albo tran s fa sciatis : long, to tâ 8 0, alæ 3 7 , caudæ 1-5, ro s tri a r ic tu 1'3,
ta rs i 1-2.
Ua b . in Chilià e t Pa tag o n iâ.
This Rail was first eliaraeterized by Captain King in 1828, in a letter on the animals met
with during bis survey o f tlie Straits o f Magellan o f wliicli extracts were published in the
third and fourth volumes o f the Zoological Journal. The description there given, though
brief, is sufficient, wc think, to justify us in adopting the name antarcticus for this species,
regard being bad to the fact that there is no other known Rail likely to he met with in Antarctic
America to which Capt. Iviiig’s description is at all applicable. But Capt. King gives us no
information whatever as to the habits o f this bii'd, nor does he mention the exact locality in
which he obtained it.
A more satisfactory account o f this Rail is that o f Dr, R. A. Philippi—a wcll-knovui
German Zoologist, who is now Director o f the National Museum o f Santiago, Chili. Dr. Philippi
describes this bird very accurately under the name of Rallus uliginosus, and tells us that a
single specimen o f it was procured by Dr. Eulogio Salinas on his estate in the plain o f Santiago,
and presented to the Museum o f that city. Other specimens appear to have subsequently
occurred, for a collection o f Humming-birds sent by Dr. Pliilippi to Mr. Gould a short time
since contained an example o f it which passed into the collection o f Salvin and Godman and has
formed the subject o f our figure and description.
The British Museum contains a single stuffed specimen o f this Rail, procured in Chili hy
the late Mr. Bridges. Mr. G. R. Gray has conferred upon it the name lia llu s rufopennis, but
has never published any description o f it.
This Rail is o f the same form as the well-known Rallus virginianus, o f North America ;
from which, however, it is readily distinguishable by its plumbeous colour below. A third
American species o f this group, which also contains the European Rallus aquations, is figured
in the next following plate.