Laterallus jamaicensis
SUBFAMILY
Rallinae
TAXONOMY
Rallus jamaicensis Gmelin, 1789, Jamaica. Four subspecies recognized.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
French: Rвle noir; German: Schieferralle; Spanish: Polluela
Negruzca.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
4.7–6 in (12–15 cm); 0.7–1.6 oz (20.5–46 g). Small and dark,
nape to mantle orangy- to reddish brown, upperparts and rear
underparts barred or spotted white. Undertail-coverts cinnamon
in two races. Female paler on foreparts; juvenile browner,
plainer. Hatchlings covered with black down.
DISTRIBUTION
L. j. coturniculus: California; L. j. jamaicensis: eastern United
States and eastern Central America, winters from coastal
southern and eastern United States to Guatemala and Greater
Antilles; L. j. murivagans: coastal central Peru; L. j. tuerosi:
lower Junin, Peruvian Andes; L. j. salinasi: southern Peru, central
Chile and western Argentina
HABITAT
Marshes and wet grassland.
BEHAVIOR
Territorial when breeding. Some populations migratory, others
sedentary. Male’s breeding “kic-kic-kerr” call distinctive.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Eats mainly small invertebrates; also fish, tadpoles, and seeds.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Monogamous; occasional polygyny possible. Breeds in summer
in United States, during rains in South America. Nest a bowl
of grasses or rushes with a woven canopy, low in marsh vegetation.
Eggs two to 13; color is buffy to pinkish-white, with
brown speckling concentrated at larger end. Incubation 17–20
days.
CONSERVATION STATUS
L. j. tuerosi is Endangered and is known from only two sites at
lower Junin, where it is at risk from pollution and water level
fluctuations. Other races are Lower Risk/Near Threatened.
Most United States populations declined drastically in twentieth
century.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.
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