6o6 THE VIRGINIA RAIL. 



No. 2^0. 



VIRGINIA RAIL. 



A. O. I'. Xo. 212. Ralliis virginianus Linn. 



Description. — .Idiill: Above Ijrownish black, the feathers broadl}- striped 

 laterally with lighter browns (wood-brown, bistre, and olive-brown), and shad- 

 ing into burnt umber on wing-coverts and edges of quills: forehead with numer- 

 ous, enlarged, glossy, black shafts without attendant vanes; a light line over eye 

 in front, and a dusky line thru eye; lower eyelid white; sides of head ashy gray; 

 chin and upper throat white; lower throat and breast cinnamon-rufous (Mars 

 brown), growing paler medially and posteriorly ; belly, flanks, and lining of wings 

 brownish dusk}' or blackish, crossed bv narrow white bars, lighter, or sometimes 

 almost unmarked fuhous, centrally and on thighs; bill red, darker above. 

 Iininaturc birds show blackish more extensively on underjjarts. Downy yoitiuj: 

 l^niform glossy black. Length 8.00-10.50 (203.2-266.7): wing 4.13 ( 105.4); 

 tail 2.00 (50.8) ; bill 1.50 (38.1 1 ; tarsus 1.35 l,S,^-8) ; middle toe an(l claw 1.78 

 f4.v2). 



Recognition Marl<s. — Robin size (to appearance); marsh-prowling habits. 

 The long reddish bill and rufous coloration serve to distinguish tbi-- bird from 

 the following species. 



Nesting. — Nest: of sedge and grasses in tussock of swami). Hggs: 6-12, 

 pale bufi'y or creamv white ( of noticeably lighter coloration than those of the 

 succeeding species) ; spotted and dotted with reddish brown and obscure lilac. 

 Av. size, 1. 25 X. 95 131.8x24.1). Season: Alav lO-June i; one br(.)od. 



General Range. — North .\mcrica from the TiiMtish I'roN'iuccs south to Guate- 

 mala and Cuba. 



Range in Washington. — Regular Inu nut cumninu summer resident in 

 s\vam|is thruDUt the i^tate. 



Authorities. — Newberry, Rep. I'ac. R. R. Sur\'. \'l., 1 't. l\'.. 1857, P- 06. 

 C&S. Rh. 1)'. 1>. R. E. 



Specimens. — L'. of W. Prov. B. E. 



GIVEN an oasis of water of, say, two acres extent, in a jiasture desert of 

 Ijarren green; crowd a conipanv of willows into one end; add a half acre oi 

 bogs crowned witli rose l)uslies ; then a little s]5ace of clear water ; then a jungle 

 of cat-tails at the other end; surround the whole with a thirty-foot liorder of 

 sedges and coarse grasses cropped close on the desert side, and yon ha\'e an 

 ideal home for the \'irginia Rail and his kind. Poke about carefully in the 

 edge of the rose-bog and you will soon start him, a sly reddish brown bird with 

 a red eve and a longisli beak. See liim some ten feet away standing at the 

 edge of cover, all alert, one foot ui)lifled and with claws ctuded down; or 

 when he plants it gingerly, he alternately perks and lowers his head, as iIk^ 

 divided in his mind Ijetween darting away and facing it out with you. Sinnil- 



