138 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



.10 or more in width), the ground-color varying from clear brown 

 (darker next to white bars) to brownish bhiek ; upper parts varj'- 

 ing from fulvous-brown to an almost ochrej- tint, the blackish 8tri])e3 

 verj' sharply defined ; breast, etc., deep cinnamon, usually distinctly 

 paler posteriorly and medially ; length 17.00-19.00, wing 5.90-6.80 

 (6.43), culmen 2.12-2.50 (2.35), least depth of bill .27-.35 (.30), depth 

 at base .50-.55 (.52), tarsus 2.10-2.40 (2.28), middle too 1.85-2.50 

 (2.07). IJggs 1.63 X 1-22. Hab. Fresh-water marshes of eastern 

 United States, north to Wisconsin, southern Michigan, Ohio, etc. 

 (casually to Massachusetts, Maine, and Ontario), west to the Great 



Plains 208. R. elegans Ai:d. King Rail. 



c*. Flanks, etc., with lighter bars very narrow (averaging decidedly less 



than .10 wide), the ground-color varying from clear hair-brown 



to cinnamon-brown; upper parts umber-brown or olive, distinctly, 



but usually not sharply, striped with blackish brown ; breast, etc., 



iiniform deep cinnamon, not distinctly paler postcriorlj- or me- 



dially. 



d\ Flanks hair-brown, distinctly barred with pure white, the white 



bars bordered on each side by a blackish bar; ground-color of 



upper parts olive ; lores dark brown, bordered above by a stripe 



of pale cinnamon ; length about 15.00-10.00, wing 5.70-0.40 



(G.03), culmen 2.25-2.50 (2.37), least depth of bill .29-.35 (.31), 



depth at base .50, tarsus 1.88-2.10 (1.93), middle toe 1.75-1.90 



(1.81). Hab. Eastern coast of Lower California (La Paz ; 



Espiritu Santo Island, etc.). 



200. R. beldingi Eidow. Belding's Rail. 

 (P. Flanks cinnamon-brown, indistinctly barred with palo cinnamon 

 and rusty whitish, but without darker bars ; ground-color of 

 upper parts umber-brown; lores rather pale brown, bordered 

 above by a white stripe ; wing 5.90-G.OO (5.95), culmen 2.00- 

 2.40 (2.17), least depth of bill .22-.30 (.20), tarsus 1.80-2.0S 

 (1.93), middle too 1.70-1.92 (1.81). JIab. Central and western 

 Mexico. 



R. tenuirostris (L.\WR.). Mexican King Rail.' 

 a'. Smaller (wing less than 4.50). 



Above olive-brownish, broadly striped with blackish ; wing-coverts deep 

 rust}', or chestnut-rufous ; breast, etc., deep cinnamon ; flanks and axil- 

 lai's dusk}', barred with white. Immattvc specimens with lower parts 

 mixed more or less extensively with black. Length 8.12-10.50, wing 

 3.90-4.25, culmen 1.45-1.60, tarsus 1.30-1.40, middle too 1.20-1.40. Eggs 

 1.24 X -S^- -^^"*- Whole of temperate North America, north to British 

 Columbia and Hudson's Bay, south to Guatemala and Cuba. 



212. R. virginianus Linn. Virginia Rail. 



• Jlallut elcr/ant Tar. Icnuiroslrii L.iwii., Am. Nat. viii. Feb. 1871, 111. 



