14:0 RAILS, GALLINULES, AND COOTS. 



II. Bill under 1-75. 



A. Wing over 6-00. 



a. General color blue, feet yellow 218. 1*urple Gallinule. 



b. General color slaty, feet dark greenish, 



b^. Toes with large scalloped webs or flaps at the side. 221. Am. Coot. 

 b^. Toes without flaps or webs 219. Florida Gallinule. 



B. Wing under 6-00, 

 a. Wing under 3-50. 



fli. Back blackish, with small round, white spots . 216. Black Kail. 

 a2. Back blackish, barred with wliite and margined with buffy. 



215. Yellow Kail. 

 h. Wing over 3-50. 



b\ Bill over 1-00 212. Virginia Rail. 



<"». Bill under 1-00. 



<;-2. Wing over 4-50, lesser wing-coverts rufous . 217. Corn Crake. 

 f3. Wing under 4-50, lesser wing-coverts olive .... 214. Sora. 



208. Ballus elegans .ii^(/. King Rail ; Marsh Hen. Ad.— Upper 

 parts varying from olive-brown to black, the back and scapulars widely mar- 

 gined with olive-gray; wings and tail olive-brown; wing-coverts rufous; 

 throat white; neck and breast cinnamou-mfous ; belly and sides /wscow^, 

 sharply barred with white. Downy You/tg— Glossy black. L., 15-00; W., 

 6-50 ; Tar., 2-20 ; B., 2-40. 



Range. — Eastern North America; breeds as far north as Missouri and 

 southern Connecticut, and occasionally strays as far as Wisconsin, Ontario, 

 and Maine ; winters from Virginia southward. 



Washington, uncommon S. R., almost a P. R. Long Island, rare S. R. 



Nest.^ of grasses, on the ground in fresh-water marshes. Eggs^ seven to 

 twelve, bufty white, more heavily spotted and speckled with rufous-brown 

 than those of the next species, 1-68 x 1-20. 



The King Rail is the fresh-water representative of the Clapper Rail. 

 It is, however, a much less common bird, and less is known of its 

 habits. Like other Rails, it is a skulker, and never flies when it can 

 escape by running or hiding in the dense grass of its home. On three 

 occasions I have heard what I am quite sure was the King Rail's call, 

 a loud, startling hup., hup, hup, hup, hup, uttered with increasing ra- 

 pidity until the syllables were barely distinguishable, then ending some- 

 what as it began. The whole performance occupied about five seconds. 



211. Rallus longirostris crepitans (Gmel). Clapper Rail; 



Marsh Hen. (See Fig. 22, a.) A<L — Upper parts very pale greenish olive, 

 the feathers widely margined with gray; wings and tail grayish brown; 

 wing-coverts pale cinnamon, much washed with gray; throat white; neck 

 and breast ^>a?e, between ochraceous and cream-buff, more or less washed 

 with grayish ; belly and sides gray or brownish gray, barred with white. 

 BowNi/ Vou/ig— Glossy black. L., 14-50 : W., 5-00 ; Tar., 2-00 ; B., 2-50. 



Bemarks. — The Clapper Kail may always be known from the King Rail 



