856 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PALUDICOL.E— RALLI. 



interior to Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Winters in the 

 South. Inhabits preferably swamps and marslies above tide-water. Nesting siniihir to that 

 of crepitans; eggs not distinguishable. 



R. bel'dingi. (To Lyman Belding.) Bblding's Rail. Most like B. elegans, but darker 

 and richer colored throughout, the white bars of the flanks much narrower, the blackish bars 

 very distinct. Wing 5.70; tail 2.50; bill 2.15; tarsus 1.90. Lower California, La Paz, 

 Espiritu Santo Island, Gulf of California. Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. v, 1882, p. 345 ; Key, 

 3d ed. 1887, p. 888; A. 0. U. Lists, 1886 and 1895, No. 209. 



R. virginia'nus. (Fig. 598.) VIRGINIA Rail. Little Red-breasted Rail. Small 

 Mud-hen. Coloration exactly as in elegans, of which it is a perfect miniature. Length 8.50- 

 10.50; extent about 14.00; wing 400, always under 4.50; tail 1.50; bill 1.35-1.65; tarsus 

 1.25-1.50; middle toe and claw 1.50-1.75. Temperate N««rth America, chiefly eastern U. S., 

 migratory, abundant, both in fresh and salt marshes. Breeds commonly in New England and 

 corresponding latitudes; winters in Southern States chiefly and S. to Cuba and Guatemala. 

 Although a regular migrant along the Atlantic coast, it never occurs in such immense num- 

 bers as the Carolina Rail. Eggs like those of elegans in color, but much smaller about 

 1.25 X 0.95. They agree in size nearly with those of Porzana Carolina, but the latter are 

 greenish or drab or deep bufl", not bufl'y white or creamy. The bird is well known to gun- 

 ners, who always distinguish it tVom the King Rail and the Clapper, but sometimes call it by 

 the name of the former, with some qualifying term, and sometimes stoutly maintain that it is 

 the male of the Carolina Rail. 



PORZA'NA. (Ital. porzana, Venetian name of P. porzana.) Crakes. Bill shorter or not 

 longer than head, stout, high and compressed at base, tapering, obtuse ; nasal fossae ample. 

 Nostrils linear-oblong, near middle of bill. Otherwise generally as in Ballus; hind toe longer. 

 Tarsus moderately shorter than middle toe and claw. Plumage of upper parts spotty as well 

 as streaky. Small. Sexes alike; young different. The tliree North American species are 

 very different (subgenerically), but Carolina closely resembles p)orzana of Europe. 



Analysis of Subgenera and Species. 



Small : length 8.00 or more ; wing over 4.00. {Subgenus Porzana.) 



Adult with face gray and breast spotted. (European straggler) porzana 



Adult with face black and breast dark slate-gray, not spotted Carolina 



Smaller : length about 0.50 ; wing 3.00 or more ; yellowish-brown, barred with white. (Subgenus Coturnicops) 



noreboracensis 

 Smallest : length about 5.50 ; wing scarcely 3.00 ; blackish, speckled with white and chestnut. {Subgenus Cbeciscus) 



jamaicensis 



P. porza'na. EUROPEAN Spotted Crake. Adult ^ 9 • Above, dark reddish-brown 

 shaded with olive ; hind-neck finely dotted, other upper parts spotted and shortly striped with 

 white, and marked with blackish ; no white edging of inner secondaries. Below, slate-gray, 

 fading to whitish on belly, breast spotted and flanks narrowly barred with white, crissum buff, 

 upper throat not blackish. Quills and tail dark olive-brown. Iris reddish-brown ; bill orange, 

 red at base and dusky at tip; legs yellowish-green, livid on joints. Length about 8.50; wing 

 4.50; tail 2.00; bill 0.85; tarsus 1.45; middle toe and claw 1.75. Young have the chin wliit- 

 ish. Europe. Only North American as occurring in Greenland. (P. maruetta of former 

 editions of the Key, — the usual name.) See Auk, 1889, p. 217. 



P, caroli'na. (Figs. 599, 600.) CAROLINA Crake. CAROLINA Rail. Common Rail. 

 Little American Water-hen. Chicken-billed Rail. Meadow^ Chicken. Rail- 

 bird. SoRA. SoREE. "Ortolan." Above, olive-brown, varied with black, with numer- 

 ous sharp white streaks and specks ; flanks, axillars, and lining of wings barred with white 

 and blackish ; belly whitish; crissum rufescent. Adult J 9- Face and central line of throat 

 black ; rest of throat, line over eye, and especially breast, more or less intensely slate-gray : 



