954 



Ordkr 8. PALUDICOL.E. Cranes. Rails, etc. 



family i. Rallid.\e. Rails, Coots, Gallinules. 



These arc marsh-loving birds, their home being among the vegetation characteristic of such places. 

 They run among the sedges and grasses as readily and rapidly as a mouse. It is not easy to catch a 

 glimpse of the Rails unless one is so fortunate as to find one silting on its nest. 



I. Prevailing color black or dark slate. 243. .American Coot. 



II. Prevailing color otherwise. 



A. Length about 17 inches. 239. California Clapper Rail. 



B. Length less than 12 inches, more than 7. 



1. Bill yellowish-white, less than an inch long. 241. Sora Rail. 



2. Bill reddish, about an inch and a half long. 240. Virginia Rail. 



C. Length less than (> inches. 242. California lilack Rail. 



family 2. Gruid.\E. Cranes. 



These are birds of great size, comparatively. They are often mistaken for the Herons, and vice 

 versa. They feed much more in the open than the Herons do, but also frequent marshy ground. 



L Mostly pure white. 244. Whooping Crane. 



H. Brownish-gray. 



A. Length about ,35 inches. 245. Little Brown Crane. 



B. Length about 44 inches. 246. Sandhill Crane. 



■ Order 9. HERODIONES. Herons, Bitterns, Ibises. 



family 1. Ardeid.'vE. Herons, Bitterns. 



The herons are slender birds more by reason of their long, slender legs and necks than because the 

 body is particularly slender. They are birds which wade in swamps and other shallow water, subsist- 

 ing largely upon the animal life peculiar to such habitats. They can ^tand for long periods so motionless 

 that they seem a part of their surroundings. 



L Length about 45 inches. 



A. Upperparts bluish-gray; lighter. 248. Great Blue Heron. 



B. Upperparts bhiish-slate-gray : darker. 249. Fannin's Heron. 

 TL Length about 40 inches. Pure white. 250. American Kgret. 

 IIL Length less than 35 inches. 



A. Pure white. B. C. &H. 16. Snowy Heron. 



B. Mottled and streaked with rusty and yellowish-brown. 247. American Bittern. 



C. Back and crown iilack. or gray brown, streaked with 251. Black=crowned Night Heron. 



white. 



D. Back green, washed with blue-gray. H. 38. Green Heron. 



family 2. Iiiiiud.m:. Ibises. 



But one member of this family known in the Pacific Northwest. 



B. C. & H. 17. White = faced Glossv 

 Ibis. 



Order 10. LliNIICOL.^i. Shore Birds. 



family I. CH.'>lRADR^D,^E. Plovers. 



These are short billed gleaning birds, many of which feed in the fields rather than along the margins 

 of bodies of water. During their migralions they more often frec|nent the shores where they glean 

 among the wash thrown up In the waves. M.iny have pleasing calls. 



I. L'nderparts mostly black. 



A. Above conspicuously spotted with yellow. 253. American Golden Plover. 



B. Above black and white, without yellow. 252. Black^bellied Plover. 

 IL L'nderparts not mostly black. 



A. Breast crossed by two black bands. 254- Killdeer. 



B. Breast crossed by one black band. 255. Semipalmated Ploxer. 



C. Breast without a black band crossing it. 



T. Length about 6.5 inches. 256. Snowy Plover. 

 2. Length about 10.5 inches. 



a. Hind toe present. 252. Black^bellied Ploxer. 



b. Hind toe absent. 253. American Golden Plover. 



