RALLUS ELEGANS, KING RAIL. 535 



of long, fl.it, poiuted, uaiTow wings, with flowing tertials, characteristic of the great 

 Plover-snipe group, they have short, concave, rounded wiug.s, and their flight is con- 

 sequently of a different sort. They are neither swift nor vigorous on wing. When 

 flushed, a matter of some difiiculty, they fly in so feehle and vague a way that it is not 

 very easy to understand how they make the extensive migrations for which, neverthe- 

 less, they are noted. The legs, as well as more particularly the feet, are large and 

 strong ; the thighs extremely muscular ; tliey trust rather to these members than to 

 their wings in, avoiding pursuit or escaping danger; probably no birds are more ac- 

 complished pedestrians than they are. There is generally, if not always, a .slight 

 membrane between the base of tlie toes, but nothing amounting even to semipalma- 

 tiou ; nevertheless, some of the species swim short distances with ease. While not 

 exactly gregarious, since they do not go in flocks that ai'e actuated by a common im- 

 pulse and the iu.stiuct of .socialism, nevertheless they frequent, through community of 

 tastes and wants, the marslies in immense numbers; where they breed, and where they 

 appear during the migration, particularly the autumnal, the marshes appear full- 

 stocked with them. Their cries are loud, dry, and harsh; in the spring time the 

 marshes resound. They scream piteously when wounded and caught, and fight as well 

 as they can with their .strong claws. Their food consists of all sorts of aquatic animals 

 small enough to be swallowed — little crabs, snails, and other small molluscs, grubs, 

 worms, and insects. They probably all live at times, and in a mea.sure at least, upon 

 the seeds and tender shoots of aquatic plants. They lay many white or whitish, 

 nuich-spotted, oval or elliptical eggs, in a rude flat nest, built of sticks, rush-.stalks, 

 and grasses, upon the ground. The young, of which more than one brood may be an- 

 mially raised, are generally black in the downy state, whatever the color of the adults. 

 Thev appear to be of somewhat nocturnal habits, and probably migrate mostly by 

 uight. The flesh of some of our species is esteemed good eating, and great numbers 

 are annually destroyed for the table, in the fall, when they are generally very fat. 



EALLUS ELEGANS, And. 



King Rail; Fresh-water Marsh Hen. 



a. elegans. 



Rallus crepitans, Wils., Am. Orn. vii, 1813, pi. 62, f. 2 (figure, but not the description. 

 Not of authors). 



Eallus eli'f/atis, Aud., Orn. Biog. iii, 18.35, 27, pi. 203 ; Syn. 1839, 215 ; B. Am. v, 1842. 160, 

 pi. 309.— Bp., List, 18b8, 53.— Lixsl., Am. Journ. Sci. xliv, 1843, 267 (Connecti- 

 cut).— GiR., B. L. I. 1834, 209.— GUXDI-., J. f. O. iv, 1856, 427 (Cuba, breeding) ; 

 Reperto. i, 360.— Newb., P. R. R. Rep. vi, 1857, 96 (California).— Bd., B. N. A. 

 1858, 746.— Hekrm., P. R. R. Rep. x, 1859, pt. vi, 62 (California).— Coop. &, 

 Suck., N. H. Wash. Ter. 1860, 246.— W^heat., Ohio Agric. Rep. 1860, No. 226.— 

 CouES & PuENT., Smiths. Rep. 1861, 416.— Hoy, Smiths. Rep. 1864, 438 (Mis- 

 souri).— Lawk., Ann. Lye. N. Y. viii, 1866, 295.— Coue.s, Pr. Ess. Inst, v, 1868, 

 296 (Connecticut). — CouES, Pr. Bost. Soc. xii, 124 (South Carolina, resident). — 

 SCL. & Salv., p. Z. S. 1868, 444 (critical).— Tunub., B. E. Pa. 1869, 33.— Allen, 

 Bull. M. C. Z. ii, 1871, 357 (Florida.)— Coues, Key, 1872, 273.— Sxow^, B. Kans. 

 1673, 10 (rare).— RiDGW., Ann. Lye. N. Y. x, 1874, 387 (Illinois). 



Aramiis (PardimlliiK) ilcfjans, Gray, Hand-list, iii, 1871, 59, No. 10417. 



liallm lonyirosiris, ScL., P. Z. S. 1864, 179 (error). (Mexico.) 



b. ohsoletus. 



Ballus elegans var. ohsoletus, Ridgw., Am. Nat. viii, 1874, 111.— Coues, Check-list, App. 

 1874, 137, No. 466"^ (California). 



Hab. — United States, rather southerly. North on the Atlantic coast regularly to the 

 Middle States, casually to Connecticut ; in the interior to Kan.sas and Mi.ssnuri at least ; 

 on the Pacific side to Oregon or Washington. Cuba. Mexico. Winters in the South- 

 ern States. 



Not obtained by any of the Expeditions. 



The Kiiigf Hail is more limited in dispersion tlian any other one of our 

 species of the family. The extraliniital quotations are few, and to the 

 northward its range is likewise restricted. None of tlie later New En- 

 gland writers mention it except my.self, and I have only the authority 

 of Mr. liinslcy for its occurrence near Stratford, Comiccticnt. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. TurnbuU it is "rather scarce" along the New Jersey coast. 

 In the District of Columbia it is often observed earJy in the fall, wbeu 



