Specimens examined.—Total number, 27 (18 males, 9 females), as follows: Palau Islands, USNM—Garakayo, 4 (Sept. 18, 19, 20)—Peleliu, 4 (Aug. 27, 28, Sept. 16)—Arakabesan, 1 (Nov. 26); AMNH—exact locality not given, 18 (Oct., Nov., Dec.).
Nesting.—The condition of the gonads in specimens obtained indicates that the breeding season is principally in the fall and winter. Of adult rails taken by Coultas in October, November and December, 1931, 6 of 12 males and 3 or 4 females had enlarged gonads. In September, 1945, the NAMRU2 party obtained two adult males with swollen testes. Marshall (1949:219) recorded breeding in September and November.
Food habits.—Stomachs of rails obtained by the NAMRU2 party contained insects, seeds and small mollusks. Coultas (field notes) notes that the birds eat snails, roots and other vegetable matter.
Remarks.—Rallus philippensis is geographically widespread, being found from Tasmania and Australia north to Malaysia and the Philippines west to Cocos Keeling Island east to Melanesia and western Polynesia and north to the Palau Islands. The species is divisible into several subspecies. The one in the Palaus, although distinctive, does not appear to have undergone a higher degree of differentiation (even though isolated as a small population) than any of the subspecies in Malaysia or Melanesia. Perhaps the form on Palau as well as the relatively undifferentiated Poliolimnas cinereus are rather recent invaders of Micronesia, as compared with Rallus owstoni and Aphanolimnas monasa.
The Banded Rail is less secretive in habits than Rallus owstoni of Guam, and neither was seen to fly. At Angaur, Peleliu and Garakayo, the NAMRU2 party found the rail in areas of swamp and marsh as well as in the rocky uplands; it probably prefers the former habitats. Several rails were observed and shot in open places, but they probably prefer to remain in dense cover. Coultas found the birds at taro patches and swamps. I watched a rail feeding along an open trail on Garakayo. The bird was eating small mollusks and other items which were in the open area. Being a true skulker, the bird would make a quick dash to the feeding place, remain only a few moments, hurriedly return to the protective cover, and then repeat the process. The best means that I found of obtaining these birds was using traps baited with peanut butter and oatmeal. The traps had to be visited frequently or the ants made short work of the captured birds.
Rallus owstoni (Rothschild)
Guam Rail
Hypotaenidia owstoni Rothschild, Novit. Zool., 2, 1895, p. 481. (Type locality, Guam.)
?Rallus philippinus Gray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 51 (Marian or Ladrone Is.).
Rallus pectoralis Finsch and Hartlaub, Fauna Centralpolynesiens, 1867, p. 157 (Guam).