BIRDS — SCOLOPACIDAE RALLUS CREPITANS. 



747 



This is the largest species of rail found in North America, and is one of the most handsome 

 birds of this genus. It is found for much the greater jiart in fresh waters, and inhabits the 

 entire country on the Atlantic from New Jersey to Florida, very probably extending also over 

 the vast intermediate regions to the Pacific in the same latitude. The only specimens from 

 California, or other country on the Pacific, that we have ever seen, are in the present collection. 



List of specimens. 



KALLUS CREPITANS, Gm. 



Clapper Rail; Mud Hen. 



.' ? Rallus longirostris, Boddaert, Tabl. PI. enl. 1784 ; pi. 849. 



Rallus crepitans, Gm. Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 713.— Wils. Am. Orn. VII, 1813, 112, (not the plate.)— Bon. Obs. Wila. 



1825 ; pi. 228.— Add. Orn. Biog. Ill, 1835, 331 ; V, 570 ; pi. 214.— Ib. Syn. 215.— 1b. Birds Am. 



V, 1842, 165 ; pi. 310.— Cab. Jour. 1856, 427. 



FiGTjREs.— "Wilson, Am. Orn VII, pi. 62, fig. 2.— Add. B. of Am., pi. 204 ; oct. ed. V, pi. 310.— Buffon, PI. Enl. 849.' 



Sp Ch Smaller than the preceding. Upper parts light ashy olive, with longitudinal stripes of brownish black, most 



numerous on the back ; a line of dull yellowish white from the base of the bill over the eye ; space before and behind the eye 

 ashy. Throat and under eyelid white ; neck before, and breast, pale reddish yellow, or tawny tinged with bluish ashy on the 

 breast ; sides, abdomen, under tail coverts, and tibiae, with transverse bands of brownish black and white, the former being the 

 wider. Upper wing coverts brownish olive ; under wing coverts black, with transverse lines of white. Total length, (to end 

 of tail,) about 14 inches ; wing, 5j ; tail 2i inches. 



Hab. — Middle and southern coast of the States on the Atlantic ocean ; South America. 



Eather smaller than the preceding, but when in mature plumage considerably resembling it 

 in colors. Specimens generally, however, have a faded or bleached appearance, and it is, in fact, 

 rather unusual to meet with those that have not this character. 



This bird is more an inhabitant of the seacoast than the preceding, and is abundant from 

 New Jersey to Florida, and southwardly on the shores of South America. The proper name of 

 this species is, very probably, Bcdlus longirostris, as above described and figured. Specimens 

 before us, from the coast of Guiana, seem quite identical with others from New Jersey. 



List of specimens. 



