[order] GRUIFORMES | [family] Rallidae | [latin] Aramides axillaris | [UK] Rufous-necked Wood-Rail | [FR] Rale a cou roux | [DE] Braunkappen-Ralle | [ES] Cotara Cuellirrufa, Rascon Cuellirrufo (Cr), Gallineta Cuellirufo (HN) | [NL] Roodnekbosral Subspecies Monotypic species Genus Physical charateristics Tall rail with rufous had, neck, sides, breast and adomen are rufous. Short bill. […]
Category: Rallidae
Rufous-sided Crake (Laterallus melanophaius)
[order] GRUIFORMES | [family] Rallidae | [latin] Laterallus melanophaius | [UK] Rufous-sided Crake | [FR] Rale brunoir | [DE] Rothals-Ralle | [ES] Polluela Burrito | [NL] Braziliaanse Dwergral Subspecies Monotypic species Genus Physical charateristics Neck, back and wings bronze-brown. Area around eyes grey. Ront of head and ear covers and side of breast chestnut. Romp […]
Common Gallinule (Gallinula chloropus)
[order] GRUIFORMES | [family] Rallidae | [latin] Gallinula chloropus | [UK] Common Gallinule | [FR] Gallinule poule-d’eau | [DE] Teichhuhn | [ES] Gallereta Comun | [NL] Waterhoen Subspecies Monotypic species Genus Physical charateristics Medium-sized gallinule, with prominent bill and frontal shield and habit of constantly flirting tail, exhibiting white under tail-coverts. Looks essentially black at […]
Yellow-breasted Crake (Porzana flaviventer)
[order] GRUIFORMES | [family] Rallidae | [latin] Porzana flaviventer | [UK] Yellow-breasted Crake | [FR] Maroutte a sourcils blancs | [DE] Gelbbrust-Sumpfhuhn | [ES] Polluela Palida | [NL] Geelbuikporseleinhoen Subspecies Monotypic species Genus Physical charateristics Very small yellowish crake with long toes. Dark line through eye with a buff white supercilicium. White markings on upperparts […]
Leguats Rail (Aphanapteryx leguati)
The story The Huguenot refugee Francois Leguat discovered a relative of the Mauritian Red Rail during his two-year sojourn on the island of Rodrigues: Our Wood-hens are fat all the year round and of a most delicate taste. Their colour is always of a bright grey, and there is very little difference in the plumage […]
Tahiti Rail (Gallirallus pacificus)
The story The Tahitian Red-billed or Tahiti Rail is known only from a painting that survives today in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London. This painting was produced by Georg Forster, one of the naturalists who sailed with Captain James Cook on his second epic voyage around the world during the 1770’s. Forster’s […]
Chatham Rail (Gallirallus modestus)
The story This species seems to provide a fairly typical example of the way in which rails develop on isolated islands. It is assumed that this is another form that has evolved from an ancestral stock resembling the Buff-banded Rail, but in this case the evolution was rather more advanced than in others. Following the […]
Dieffenbachs Rail (Gallirallus dieffenbachii)
The story The remote Chatham Islands lie way to the south of New Zealand and here, in isolation, two species seem to have developed from an ancestral stock that resembled the Buff-banded Rail. The less evolved of these is Dieffenbach’s Rail, and this form seems to have developed from a comparatively recent invasion of the […]
Ascension Rail (Atlantisea elpenor)
The story The evidence for the former existence of a small rail on Ascension Island is of two kinds. First, bones from a rail have been found on the island and, second, there exists a seventeenth century written account of just such a creature. This account was written by the much travelled Englishman Peter Mundy, […]
Hawaiian Crake (Porzana sandwichensis)
The story A small species of rail once inhabited the main island of Hawaii and perhaps some other Hawaiian islands. A handful of specimens exist in the museums of the world but these have in themselves caused some controversy. Two of them are rather paler in colour than the rest, giving rise to the idea […]