The range and natural history of Neotropical rails are little understood. Observations are presented on the range, diet and breeding of seven poorly known rails amassed during 15 years of intensive fieldwork in Brazil and visits to dozens of ornithological collections: Amaurolimnas concolor, Neocrex erythrops, Micropygia schomburgkii, Gallinula melanops, Parphyrio flavirostris, Lateiallus exilis and Pardirallus macidatus. The proposed disjunctions in some species ranges between the humid forests of Central America/northern South America and those in eastern Brazil are an artifact due to the natural scarcity of some species in the drier formations of central South America as well as to incomplete sampling.