82 RAILS, GALLINULES, AND COOTS 



lu the wild rice fields, I have frequently watched them walking 

 daintily over the leaves and floating stems, swimming across the nar- 

 row channels where they could not wade, and running in and out of 

 the thousand little trails that lead about under the grass ; and have 

 often clapped my hands to hear them answer back with their mock- 

 ing, cackling laugh. Vernon Bailey. 



Subgenus Coturnicops. 



215. Porzana noveboracensis {Gmel.). Yellow Rail. 



Upper parts dark buff, mottled with brown and black, feathers of back 



narrowly tipped with white in wavy 

 cross - lines ; wing dusky, with large 

 white patch on secondaries ; throat and 

 breast plain buff or brownish ; middle of 

 9'j. belly whitish. Length : 6.00-7.75, wing 



8.00-3.00, bill .50-.60, tarsus .80-100. 

 Distribution. — North America from Hudson Bay and Nova Scotia south 

 to Cuba, and west to Nevada and California. 



Nest. — In marsh, made of dry grass. Eggs : G to 10, creamy buff, finely 

 specked with rusty brown. 



In habits the yellow rail is much like the Carolina, but may readily 

 be distinguished from it even on the wing by its smaller size and 

 white wing patch. It is never a common bird. 



Subgenus Creciscus. 



216. Porzana jamaicensis (Gmel.). Black Rail. 



Adults. — Back and Avings brownish black, finely dotted with white ; 

 shoulders dark rich chestnut ; breast, throat, 

 and sides of head deep plumbeous, shading to 

 black on crown ; flanks and ventral region 

 specked and barred, with white. Young : simi- 

 lar to adults but with grayish breast, whitish ^^' 



throat, and brownish crown. Length : 5-6, wing 2.50-3.20, bill .50-.60, 

 tarsus .85-.90. 



Distribution. — From Oregon, Nebraska, and Massachusetts south through 

 the West Indies and the greater part of South America. 



216.1. Porzana coturniculus (Bidgw.). Faballone Rail. 



Size and general characters oi jamaicensis, but back without white mark- 

 ings. 



Known only from the type specimen from the Farallone Islands. 



GENUS GALLINULA. 



219. Gallinula galeata (Licht.). Florida Gallinule. 



Toes long and slender, not lobed ; bill slender and sharp, nearly as long 



as head ; frontal shield extend- 

 ing from bill to crown, widest 

 posteriorly ; bill and shield 

 bright red. Adtilts in summer : 

 ^'&- *^^- dark slaty or plumbeous, washed 



