EALLID.E — THE RAILS — RALLUS. 



359 



Rallus longiroslris crepitans, RiDGW. Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, V. no. 3, July, 1880, 140 ; Noni. N. 



Am. B. 1881, no. 571. — Coues, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 673. 

 PmUus longirostris (nee Bodd.), Coues, Key, 1872, 273; Check List, 1873, no. 465; B. N. W. 



1874, 536 (excl. syn. pt.). 



c. saturatus. 



Rallies longirostris saticratus, " Henshaw, MS." Kidgw. Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, V. no. 3, July, 

 1880, 140 ; Nom. N. Am. B. 1882, no. 571 a. — Coues, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 675. 



d. caribceus. 



Eallus crepitans and E. longirostris, AucT. (all West Indian references). 



Rallus longirostris carihtcus, Kidgw, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, V. no. 3, July, 1880, 140. 



Hab. Salt-water marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, north — 

 casually to Massachusetts, regularly to Connecticut ; West Indies, and coast of Northern South 

 America, to Brazil. The geographical races limited as follows : longirostris to Northern South 

 America (Cayenne to Bahia) ; caribceus to the West Indies ; saturatus to the Gulf coast of the 

 United States (Louisiana to Florida), and crepitans to the Atlantic coast of the United States. 



Sp. Char. Adult : Above, olivaceous-gray, or sometimes even ashy, usually very obsoletely 

 striped, sometimes uniform, but, more rarely (more generally in southern specimens), striped with 

 olivaceous or even dusky ; crown and nape uniform brown or dusky ; a brownish white supraloral 

 stripe ; side of the head chiefly grayish (sometimes inclining to ashy), darker on the lores, and 



^ |il::„ . 



R. longirostris crepitans. 



becoming pale cinnamon or l^uff on the malar region ; chin and throat white ; rest of the neck, 

 with jugulum and breast, pale cinnamon-buft', olivaceous-buft", or, more rarely, dull cinnamon, 

 tinged with olive ; flanks and sides pale olivaceous-gray or brownish slate, barred with white (as 

 in ohsolctus) ; axillars and lining of the wing similar, but more narrowly barred with white ; anal 

 region and middle of the abdomen plain light buff, grayish, or dusky, barred with white centrally, 

 plain white laterally. Wing-coverts usually more brown than other upper parts ; remiges plain 

 umber. Doivny young : Exactlj^ like that of R. elegans and R. obsoletus. 



Total length, al)out 14.00-15.00 inches; wing, 5.40-6.00; culmen, 2.10-2.45; least depth of 

 bill (through middle), .22-.28 ; tarsus, 1.85-2.10 ; middle toe, 1.70-2.00. 



Bill brownish (nearly the color of the supraloral stripe), the upper half of the maxilla dusky; 

 iris raw-umber brown ; legs and feet very similar in color to outer webs of primaries (manuscript 

 notes on fresh specimens killed in July on Virginia coast). According to Audubon, the fresh 

 colors of specimens examined by him were as follows : " Lower mandible and edges of upper 

 yellowish brown ; ridge of upper and tips of both deep brown ; iris pale yellow ; feet pale livid 

 gray, tinged with orange about the tibio-tarsal joint ; claws dusky." 



Rallus longirostris is by far the most variable of the North American species of the genus, the 

 variations noted in a large series being plainly local or geographical to a very large degree, but also 

 individual to a considerable extent. Examples from the Atlantic coast of the United States (New 

 York to North Carolina) are the palest-colored, the upper parts being frequently plain grayish, the 



