852 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— PALUDICOL^ — RALLI. 



head, straight, rather stout, with short broad nasal fossae, and linear-oblong nostrils — alto- 

 gether somewhat as in gallinaceous birds. The cuhnen more or less obviously parts antial 

 extension of frontal feathers, but never forms a decided frontal shield, as in the Coots and Galli- 

 uules, though such a formation is indicated in the American genus Limnopardalus, for example. 

 Of about 35 American species or varieties about one half occur in this country, to which must 

 be added one straggler from Europe. There are some 25 Old World species. 



Rails inhabit all temperate countries; they are remarkably distinguished by extreme nar- 

 rowness or compression of body, which enables them to thread a way through the closest reeds 



and rushes of marshes where they always live. They are neither 

 swift nor vigorous on wing. When ilushed, a matter of some 

 difificulty, they fly in so feeble and vague a way that it is not 

 easy to understand how they make the extensive migrations for 

 which, nevertheless, they are noted. They trust rather to their 

 legs than to their wings in avoiding pursuit or escaping danger; 

 probably no birds are more accomplished pedestrians. There is 

 generally, if not always, a slight membrane at base of the toes, 

 but nothing amounting even to semipalmation ; nevertheless, 

 Fig. 596. — Carolina Rail. (From some species swim short distances with ease. While not ex- 

 Tenuey, after Wilson.) ^^^-^^ gregarious, siuce they do not go in flocks that are actuated 



by a common impulse and the instinct of socialism, they nevertheless, through community of 

 tastes and wants, frequent in immense numbers the marshes. Where they breed, and where 

 they appear during migration, particularly the autumnal, the marshes appear full-stocked with 

 them. Their cries are loud, dry, and harsh ; in spring-time the marshes resound. They 

 scream piteously when wounded and caught, and fight as well as they can M'ith their strong 

 claws. Their food consists of all sorts of aquatic animals small enough to be swallowed — 

 little crabs, snails and other small moUusks, grubs, worms, and insects. They probably all 

 live at times, and in a measure at least, upon the seeds and tender shoots of aquatic plants. 

 They lay many light-colored but much-spotted, oval or elliptical eggs, in a rude flat nest, built 

 of sticks, rush-stalks, or grasses, upon the ground. The young, of which more than one 

 brood may be annually raised, are generally black in the downy state, whatever the color of 

 adults. They appear to be of somewhat nocturnal habits, and probably migrate mostly by 

 night. The flesh of some of our species is esteemed good eating, and great numbers are annu- 

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



RAL'LUS. (Low Lat. rallus, a rail, from rasle, rale, a rattling cry.) Rails. Marsh 

 Hens. Bill longer than head, slender, compressed, decurved, with long nasal groove extend- 

 ing beyond middle of bill. Nostrils linear, sub-basal. Hind toe not half as long as tarsus; 

 the latter not longer than middle toe and claw. Wings, tail, and legs as in Eallinte at large. 

 Plumage variegated above, plain below, excepting conspicuously barred flanks, and lining of 

 wings and tail. Sexes alike ; young little different. Swamps and marshes exclusively. Eggs 

 numerous, buff and spotted. Very clamorous in breeding season. We have 3 perfectly good 

 species (and a fourth reaching the Texan border), and several others which are not so good, 

 the nomenclature of which has incessantly shifted of late years. I present the following list in 

 strict accordance with tlie 2d edition of the A. O. U. List, 1896, without feeling assured that 

 the names of all the species or subspecies here given will survive the next effort to readjust 

 them to the facts in the case. All changes made since the 2d edition of the Key, 1884, are 

 duly noted. 



Analysis 0/ Species and Subspecies. 



Large : length 12.00 or more ; wing 5.00 or more ; bill 2.00 or more. 



Flanks gray, witli narrow white bars. Above, olive-brown, olive-gray, or quite blackish, without chestnut on 

 wings ; below, pale rufous or ashy. {Clapper Bails.) 



