140 KAILS, GALLINULES, AND COOTS. 



II. Bill under 1-75. 



A. Wing over 6-00. 



a. General color blue, feet yellow 218, Turple Gallinule. 



b. General color slaty, feet dark greenish. 



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

 i2. 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. 

 a". Back blackish, barred with white and margined with buff'y. 



215. Yellow Kail. 

 h. Wing over 8*50. 



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



fi. Bill under 1-00. 



c2. Wing over 4-50, lesser wing-coverts rufous . 217. Corn Crake. 

 c3. Wing under 4'50, lesser wing-coverts olive .... 214. Sora. 



308. Rallus elegans ^««^. 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 cinnamon-rufous ; belly and sides fuscous, 

 sharply barred with white. Doivny Young — Glossy black. L., 15-00 ; W., 

 G-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 Kail. 

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

 habits. Like other Kails, 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 Kail's call, 

 a loud, startling huj), bup, hup, Mip, 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.) .-1^/.— 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 pale, between oehraceous and cream-buft', more or less washed 

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

 Dotvni/ io««!7— Glossy black. L., 14-50 ; W., 5-00 ; Tar., 2-00 ; B., 2-50. 



Remarks.— The Clapper Kail may ahvays be known from the King Rail 



