rallid.e—rallinjE: rails and crakes. 



853 



Upper parts olive-brown obscurely varied with olive-gray edges of the feathers ; below with little rufous. 



West Indies and Mexico, to Texas only longirostrU caribbaus 



Atlantic coast of the U. S. at large crepitans 



Louisiana only crepitans saturatus 



Upper parts olive-gray, with obscure dark stripes ; below, breast quite rufous. Pacific coast . . obsoletus 



Upper parts quite blackish, with little grayish variegation. Florida scotti 



Flanks dusky, with broad white bars. Above, variegated with olive-brown and blackish ; wing-coverts quite 

 chestnut; below, rich rufous. {King Rails.) 



Wing 6.00 or more ; tarsus over 2.00. Eastern U. S etegans 



Wing scarcely G.OO ; tarsus under 2.00. Lower California bddingi 



Small : length under 12.00 ; wing under 4.50 ; bill under 2.00. 



Colors as in elegnns virginianus 



R. longiros'tris caribbae'us. (Lat. longirostris, long-billed ; caribhceus, of the Caribbaean 

 Islands or Lesser Antilles.) Caribbkan Clappeu Rail. Above, dull brown and olive-gray 

 in about equal amounts; breast dull cinnamon; flanks and axillaries grayish -brown, with 

 narrow white bars, about 0.10 wide. Size of the common Clapper; bill the same in size and 

 shape. West Indies and Gulf Coast of Mexico, N. to Galveston and Corpus Christi, Texas. 

 This is the Antillean and northern form of true R. longirostris of South America, differing 

 mainly in size and shape of the bill ; for in longirostris proper, notwithstanding the name, the 

 bill is the shortest in this group of " Clapper" Rails, from 1.90 to 2.10 along culmen, averag- 

 ing not over 2.00, almost straight, and comparatively stout, with a squarish cross-section at 

 base, and greatest width across its under edge ; depth at base at least 0.35-0.40. This char- 

 acter of tlie bill is tlie basis of R. crassirostris Lawr. 1861, a synonym of longirostris proper. 

 The northern form barely reaches our Texan border, and is not found on tlie Athiutic coast. 

 R. longirostris caribceus (read caribhceus) Ridgw. Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, July, 1880, p. 140; 

 not admitted in the Key, 2d and .'M eds. 1884-87 ; Coues, Key, 4th ed. 1890, p. 905 ; A. 0. U. 

 List, 2ded. 1895, No. [211.2]. 



R. cre'pitaus. (Lat. crepitans, crepitating, clattering. Fig. 597.) Clapper Rail. Com- 

 mon Clapper. Marsh Clapper. Salt-water Marsh-hen. Sedge-hen. Meadow- 

 hen. Mud-hen. Adult ^ 9 '■ Above, variegated with dark olive-brown and pale olive-ash, 

 the latter edging the feath- 

 ers, the variegation dull 

 and blended. Below, pale 

 dull ochrcy-brown, whiten- 

 ing on throat, frequently 

 ashy -shaded on breast, 

 without decided cinnamon- 

 brown shade. Flanks, ax- "!J*Ti 

 illars, and lining of wings 

 fiiscous-gray, with sharp 

 narrow wliite bars. Quills 

 and tail plain dark brown, 

 without chestnut on cov- 

 erts. Eyelids and short 

 superciliary line whitish. . ^-^^^-r^S^—^' 

 The general tone is that 



. Fio 597. — Clapper Rail, reduced. (Altered from LewiB.) 



(if a grnij bird, without 



any rcddishncis. Yuung tnostly soiled wliitish below; when just from the egg entirely sooty- 



l.hick. Length 14.00-lG.OO; extent about 20.00; wing 5.00-(J.00; tail 2.00-2.50; bill 2.0()- 



2. .50; tarsus 1.07-2.00; middle toe and claw 2.00-2.. '3:}. 9 smaller tlian the ^. Salt marslies 



i)f Atlantic and Gulf States, extremely abundant .southerly ; N. regularly to the middle districts. 



sometimes to Ma.'^sachusett.s. Resident frnm New Jersey southward. Breeds from Connecticut 



southward, and in profusion in marshes of the Carolinas, etc., where its clattering is abnost 



