RALLIDJE—GALLINULIN.E: GALLINULES. 859 



aud under wing- and tail-coverts barred with w'hite. Quills and tail-feathers with white spots. 

 Young : Similar, paler below than the adults, whitening on the throat, and top of head rather 

 brownish than blackish. Chicks in down said to be entirely blackish. Very small : Length 

 5.00-6.00; wing 2.7.5-3.00; tail 1.35; tarsus 0.80; bill 0.50. Central America and the West 

 Indies, not often found in the U. S., being one of our rare birds; although its secretiveness and 

 small size are doubtless responsible in part for its rarity. Observed N. to Massachusetts, 

 southern Ontario, northern Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oregon, thus extending 

 across to the Pacific. There are breeding records for Kansas and Illinois as well as for the 

 Atlantic States. Eggs from New Jersey and Connecticut are altogether different from those of 

 the Sora, or of the Yellow Crake, being creamy-wliite, sprinkled all over with fine dots of rich, 

 bright reddish-brown, and with a few spots of some size at the great end; most like the more 

 finely speckled examples of the eggs of the large Ralli; dimensions 1.05 X 0.80; number 

 6-9 or more. 



P. j. coturni'culus. (Lat. dim. of coturnix, a quail.) Farallone Black Cuake. Like 

 the last; rather smaller, wing 2.50; more uniform in color, back without white specks. Far- 

 allone Islands, coast of California, <Mie specimen ; perhaps astray from the Galapagos Islands. 

 In any event, the status of the alleged subspecies is dubious among North American birds. 

 CREIX. (Gr. (cpe'l, krex, Lat. crex, a crake; referring to the creaking notes.) Land Rails. 

 General ciiaracter of Forzana. Wings much longer, folding nearly to end of tail. Tarsus 

 relatively shorter. Bill stouter, with an angle at gonys. Tail pointed, with narnjw rectrices. 

 Plumage above streaky, but not spotty ; lining of wings unmarked. 



C. crex. European Land Rail. Corn Crake. Daker-hen. Adult $ 9 : Upper 

 parts blackish-brown, variegated with brownish-yellow; wing-coverts both above and below 

 rusty-reddish or chestnut; quills rufous-brown. Below, drab or brownish of varying tone, 

 more whitish on throat and belly; flanks and crissum barred with reddish -brown and white. 

 Line over eye like under parts; a dark .stripe thn)Ugh eye. Bill, eyes, and legs pale brown. 

 Length 10.00-10.50; wing 5..50-r).00 ; tail 2.00; bill 0.80-1.00; tarsus 1. GO. Europe; casual 

 in Greenland, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Maine, New York, New Jersey, and the Bermudas. 

 (Wedderh. Zool. 1849, p. 2.501; Cass. Pr. Phila. Acad, vii, 1855, p. 265 ; Reinh. Ibis, 

 1861, p. 11 ; Bu. Am. Journ. Sci. xli, 1866, p. 339; Freke, Zool. v, 1881, p. 374: see also, 

 for records since 2d ed. of the Key, Forest and Stream, xxii, 1884, p. 44 and p. 303 ; Auk, 1886, 

 p. 4:35; 1888, p. 177; 1896, p. 173; 1899, p. 75). {C. pratensis of former eds. of the Key — 

 the usual name.) 



Subfamily CALLINULIN/E : Callinules. 

 Forehead shielded by a broad, bare, Itorny plate, a prolongation and expansion of the 

 culmen. Bill otherwise much as in the shorter-billed Rails or Crakes, like Porzana, but gen- 

 erally stouter, in some species extremely deep and heavy; general form much the same, though 

 the body is not so compressed ; toes long, simple, or slightly margined. Gallinules are 

 Rail-like birds, of similar habits, inhabiting marshes ; they agree with Coots in possessing a 

 frontal shield, but the feet are not lobate, nor is the body depressed, and the species swim no 

 better than Rails. Though quite distinct from Fulicincc, the Gdllinidincc shade directly into 

 the lidUincc, so that recognition of the subfamily is somewhat conventional ; but most of the 

 species are well marked by the frontal shield, which is hardly approached by any Rails or 

 Crakes, and the grouping of such birds together is a practical convenience. Among the Gal- 

 linules are some of the most interesting and notable birds of the Ralline type, as already 

 remarked upon ; some of the richest and most elegant C(doration, as the Hyacinths, Porphyrios, 

 or Sultanas. GalUcrex cinercn is carunculate as well as galeate. In its current acceptation, 

 the subfamily contains aliout 30 species still livinir in various parts of the world, besides some 

 extinct ones, the whole bciuir rf t'crred to 12 or more genera; two of which, very distinct from 

 each otlier, occur in North America. 



