854 SYSTEMA TIC SYNOPSIS. — PAL UDICOLJ^ — RALLI. 



incessant during the mating season. Nest a rude platform of reeds and grasses just out of the 

 water. Eggs 6-15, averaging 1.67 X 1-1~, whitish, creamy, or buff, variously speckled and 

 blotched with reddish-brown, with a few obscure lavender marks. This is the original and 

 only genuine " Clapper" Rail, B. crepitans Gm. 1788, and of most authors, identified in the 

 Key, 1st ed. 1872, p. 273, with B. longirostris Bodd. 1783. R. longirostris crepitans Ridgw. 

 Bull'. Nutt. Orn. Club, v, 1880, p. 140 ; Coues, Key, 2d and 3d eds. 1884-87, p. 672; A. 0. U. 

 List, 1st ed. 1886, No. 2J I ; Ridgw. Man. 1887, p. 137 ; B. crepitans Sennett, Auk, April, 

 1889, p. 165; CoUES, Key, 4th ed. 1890, p. 905; A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, No. 211. 

 R. c, wayne'i. (To Arthur T. Wayne, of Mt. Pleasant, S. C.) Wayne's Clapper Rail. 

 Similar to crepitans; general color darker; under paits more ashy; under tail -coverts with 

 fewer markings. North Carolina to Florida; evidently a connecting link with the next. 

 Brewster, Proc. N. E. Zool. Club, i, June 9, 1899, p. 50; Auk, Oct. 1899, p. 339. 

 R. scot'ti. (To W. E. D. Scott, who discovered it.) Florida Clapper Rail. Scott's 

 Clapper. Black Clapper. Above, sooty-blackish, only slightly varied with olive-gray 

 edgings of the feathers ; below, dark gray with more or less cinnamon tinge ; axillaries and 

 flanks slate-gray, distinctly barred with white. Size of crepitans proper, from which distin- 

 guished by its blackishness, in which respect it agrees with various other Floridan birds. 

 Salt marshes of W. Florida. B. longirostris scottii Sennett, Auk, July, 1888, p. 305; B. 

 scottii Id. ibid. Apr. 1889, p. 166; Coues, Key, 4th ed. 1890, p. 905; A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 

 1895, No. 2n. 1. 



R. c. satura'tus. (Lat. saturatus, saturated, satiated, i. e. dark-(!olored.) Louisiana Clap- 

 per Rail. In general similar to crepitans; above, olive-gray or ashy, broadly striped with 

 brownish-black; breast dull cinnamon. "Louisiana": probably untenable even as a sub- 

 species. B. longirostris saturatus Henshaw, MS. Ridgw. Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, v, 1880, 

 p. 140; Coues, Key, 2d ed. 1884, p. 672; A. 0. U. List, 1st ed. 1886, No. 211 a; Ridgw. 

 Man. 1887, p. 137. B. crepitans saturatus Sennett, Auk, Apr. 1889, p. 166; Coues, Key, 

 4th ed. 1890, p. 905; A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, No. 211 a. 



R. obsole'tus. (Lat. obsoletus, obsolete ; referring to the markings of the upper parts in 

 comparison with those of B. elegans.) California Clapper Rail. Back and scapulars 

 grayish-olive, indistinctly striped with dusky ; breast deep cinnamon. General aspect of crepi- 

 tans, but quite reddish below. Wing 6.50; bill 2.25-2.50, its least depth 0.33; tarsus 2.10- 

 2.25. Salt marshes of the Pacific coast, N. to Oregon and probably to Washington, S. to 

 Lower California. B. elegans var. obsoletus Ridgw. Am. Nat. viii, 1871, p. Ill ; B. obsoletus 

 Ridgw. Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, v, 1880, p. 139; Man. 1887, p. 137; A. 0. U. Lists, 1st and 

 2d eds. 1886 and 1895, No. 210; Sennett, Auk, Apr. 1889, p. 166. B. longirostris obsoletus 

 Coues, Key, 2d-4th eds. 1884-90, p. 672, probably in error. This is one of the best marked 

 forms, which may be said, in short, to be like crepitans above and elegans below, and left to 

 stand by itself. 



R. le'vipes. (Lat. Zrcm or Zeas, smooth ; pes, foot.) Light-footed Rail. Described as 

 much smaller than cither obsoletus or beldingi, with slenderer bill. Darker above than obso- 

 letus; breast and sides of neck cinnamon-rufous instead of grayish-cinnamon ; ground color of 

 flanks darker ; superciliary streak white instead of rusty. From beldingi it is said to differ in 

 having the back less streaked ; breast less pinkish or salmon C(dnred ; flanks browner, without 

 dusky bars bordering the broader white ones ; and white instead of rusty superciliary streak. 

 A gray postocular patch. Newport Landing, Los Angeles Co., Cal. Bangs, Proc. N. E. 

 Zool. Club, i, June 5, 1899, p. 45; Auk, Oct. 1899, p. 3-39. 



R. e'legans. (Lat. elegans, choice.) King Rail. Great Red-breasted Rail. Fresh- 

 water Marsh-hen. With a general resemblance to crepitans, but larger and much more 

 brightly colored. Adult ^ 9 • Above, distinctly streaked with brownish-black and tawny-olive, 

 the darker color being the central field of each feather ; becoming rich chestnut on wing-coverts, 



