80 



RAILS, GALLINULES, AND COOTS 



GENUS RALLUS. 

 General Characters. Bill slender, longer than tarsus ; sexes alike. 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



1. Size large, wing over 5.50. 



2. Breast uniform deep cinnamon obsoletus, p. 80. 



2'. Breast pale cinnamon buff caribaeus, p. 80. 



1'. Size small, wing not over 4.25 virginianus, p. 80. 



210. Rallus obsoletus Eidgw. CALIFORNIA CLAPPER RAIL. 1 



Upper parts olive gray, striped on back and wings with dark brown ; 



breast and throat plain cinnamon 

 brown ; chin white ; flanks dusky, 

 narrowly barred with white. 

 Length: 17-18, wing 6.20-6.70, 

 bill 2.25-2.50, tarsus 2.10-2.30. 



Distribution. Salt marshes of 

 the Pacific coast from Washington (?) to Lower California. 



Nest. Usually in grass or tules at edge of slough or tide marsh, com- 

 posed of dry grasses. Eggs : 6 to 12 (Henry Adams in The Condor, 1900, 

 31). 



In Los Angeles County, Mr. Grinnell says, the clapper rails are 

 tolerably common residents of the salt coast marshes. Their loud 

 cackling notes are frequently heard, especially at high tide, when 

 they are driven to the higher ground. 



Fig. 88. 



CARIBBEAN 



[211.2.] Rallus longirostris caribaeus Eidgw. 

 CLAPPER RAIL. 



Under parts grayish, striped with darker ; throat whitish ; breast brown j 

 sides and flanks barred with brown or dusky and whitish. Wing : 5.76, 

 bill 2.38, tarsus 2.02, middle toe 1.85. 



Distribution. Lesser Antilles, Jamaica, and coast of southern Texas 

 (Corpus Christi and Galveston). 



Nest. A platform-like structure of dried grasses, sedges, etc., in tufts 

 of grass or sedges, in marshes or ponds. Eggs : 6 to 15, white, buffy white, 

 or brownish buff, sparingly spotted with rusty brown and purplish gray. 



212. Rallus virginianus Linn. VIRGINIA RAIL. 



Adults. Upper parts olive brown, streaked 

 with black; wing with a large chest- 

 nut patch ; sides of head slaty gray, 

 lores blackish, and chin white ; throat 

 and breast cinnamon brown ; flanks 

 black, barred with white. Young : 

 plumage much mottled with black, 

 but chestnut wing patch always pre- 

 sent. Length : 8.12-10.50, wing 3.90- 

 4.25, bill 1.45-1.60, tarsus 1.30-1.40. 

 Distribution. Temperate North 



Fig. 90. 





America, 

 from Hudson Bay and* British Columbia south 



Like obsoletus, but smaller, bill more slender, and coloration 



1 Rallus levipes Bangs. 

 darker. 

 Distribution. Southern California. Bull. N. Eng. Zool. Club, i. 1899, 45. 



