Blackish rail
The blackish rail is a species of bird in the subfamily Rallinae of the rail, crake, and coot family Rallidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, and possibly Bolivia.
Taxonomy and systematics
The blackish rail has previously been placed in the large genus Rallus, and also in genus Orygonax with the plumbeous rail. Some authors propose that the blackish and plumbeous rails are conspecific, and they do form a superspecies. The blackish rail has two subspecies, the nominate P. n. nigricans and P. n. caucae.Description
The blackish rail is long; one male weighed. The sexes are alike. They have a long yellow-green bill and pinkish legs. The nominate subspecies has unmarked dark brown upperparts, a white chin and throat, and dark gray face and underparts. P. n. caucae is larger than the nominate and has a larger and whiter throat patch and paler underparts especially at the vent.Distribution and habitat
The blackish rail has a disjunct distribution. The nominate subspecies has two populations. One is found from northeastern Brazil south and west to southeastern Brazil, northern Argentina, and eastern Paraguay. The other forms a rough crescent from western Brazil through central Peru and Ecuador nearly to the border with Colombia. There are also sight records in Bolivia that lead the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society to call it hypothetical in that country. Subspecies P. n. caucae is found in central Colombia. The species has been documented in western Venezuela, but whether as a member of P. n. caucae or an undescribed subspecies is not known.The blackish rail inhabits wet landscapes including marshes, heavily vegetated waterways, rice fields, wet grasslands, and lightly wooded swamps. It is mostly a bird of the lowlands but in the Andes is found between and there is one record in Peru at about.