110 EEPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



208 Rallus elegans Audubon. 

 King Rail, 



PLATE 15. 



Adults. — Length, 17-19. Wing, G-6.75. Above, dark olive, or nearly black 

 with grayish edgings ; wing-coverts, rufous chestnut ; under parts, cinnamon 

 rufous ; throat, white ; sides of body and abdomen, blackish, barred with white. 



Nest of grass in fresh-water marshes : eggs, seven to twelve, buff, speckled 

 with rusty brown and lilac, 1.60 x 1.20. 



Not uncommon summer resident along the Delaware meadows, 

 where it breeds. Dr. J. B. Brintou found a nest at Repaupo July 

 15th, 1892/ and Prof. A. H. Phillips^ found an old bird with a brood 

 near Princeton July 2d, 1899. Mr. H. H. Hann records a nest found 

 in 1895 on the Passaic River, below Summit.^ Occurs from April to 

 the end of September. Apparently almost exclusively a fresh-water 

 bird. The only coast record with which I am acquainted is one given 

 by Mr. P. Laurent for Five Mile Beach.* 



Wilson figured this bird for the Clapper Rail, following the current 

 opinion of gunners that it was a very old example of that species. 



Audubon subsequently described it as distinct, his type specimen 

 being shot near Camden in July, 1832. 



This bird is the fresh-water representative of the Clapper Rail, dif- 

 fering from it in its deeper, richer coloration. 



211 Rallus crepitans Gmelin. 

 Clapper Rail, Mud-hen. 



Adults.— 'Length, 13.50-15.50. Wing, 5.40-6.30. Upper parts, dull olive, 

 margined with gray ; wing-coverts, grayish-cinnamon ; under parts, pale grayish- 

 buff ; throat, whitish; sides and abdomen, gray, barred with white. 



Nest in salt marshes, made of grass ; eggs, eight to twelve, buffy-white, 

 spotted with rusty brown and gray, 1.70 x 1.20. 



Abundant summer resident on the salt marshes of the coast and up 

 Delaware Bay as far as Creenwich, which, according to Mr. S. N. 



^ Abst. Proc. D. V. O. C, II., p. 5. 

 " Birds of Princeton, p. 40. 

 ' Wilson Bulletin, 1905, p. 120. 

 * O. and O., 1892, p. 53. 



