Habitat
Forests with open understoreys and substrates of leaf-litter, water courses and reedy or papyrus-grown edges of ponds and marshes within primary and adjoining secondary rainforest with sparse herbaceous ground-cover.
Madagascar Wood Rail (Mentocrex kioloides) [XC294131]
by Dries Van de Loock from Toamasina Province; Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, Mantadia, Madagascar (call)
Madagascar Wood Rail (Mentocrex kioloides) [XC622665]
by Brian Cox from Antsirabe, Sambava, Antsiranana Province, Madagascar (song)
Nest
A bowl of grass and leaves placed in a bush or a tangle of creepers 2 - 3 m above the ground.
Subspecies
Birds from Bemaraha apparently differ sufficiently in plumage coloration to be regarded as a further, as yet undescribed, subspecies.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
kioloides (Pucheran, 1845) - Eastern half of Madagascar.