Animalia Life

Rallina forbesi
SUBFAMILY
Rallinae
TAXONOMY
Rallicula forbesi Sharpe, 1887, Owen Stanley Range, New Guinea. Four subspecies recognized.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Forbes’s chestnut rail; French: Rвle de Forbes; German: Nymphenralle; Spanish: Polluela de Forbes.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
8–10 in (20–25 cm); 3–3.2 oz (87–91 g). Foreparts chestnut; rear upperparts and wings blackish-brown, spotted buff in female; rear underparts barred. Juvenile duller and browner.
DISTRIBUTION
R. f. steini: central New Guinea; R. f. parva: northeastern New Guinea (Adelbert range); R. f. dryas: northeastern New Guinea (Huon Peninsula); R. f. forbesi: southeastern New Guinea.
HABITAT
Montane forest.
BEHAVIOR
Poorly known and secretive
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Invertebrates, small vertebrates, and seeds.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Roosting nest a football-sized domed structure of leaf skeletons and moss on the ground. One breeding nest was a platform in a tree. Eggs probably four to five, white.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened. Not uncommon locally in the east, probably scarce or rare in west.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Regularly hunted for food.

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