282 RALLID.E ! RAILS AND THEIR ALLIES. 



FRESH-WATER MARSH HEN; KING RAIL. 



t 



RALLUS ELEGANS And. 



Chars. With a general resemblance to R. crepitans^ but much 

 more brightly colored, as well as larger. Adult, above distinctly 

 streaked with brownish-black and tawny-olive, becoming rich 

 chestnut on the wing-coverts. Below, cinnamon-red, brightest 

 on the breast, fading on the throat and belly ; a line of the same 

 over the eye, and dusky stripe through eye ; lower eyelid white. 

 Flanks and lining of wings blackish, broadly and distinctly barred 

 with white. Length, 17.00-19.00; extent, 23.00-25.00; wing, 

 6.00-7.00 ;bill, 2.10-2.50; tarsus, 2.30. 



The King Rail is certainly a rare bird in New Eng- 

 land, and the manner of its occurrence has not been 

 ascertained with precision. It should probably be 

 classed as a summer visitor of irregular or casual occur- 

 rence and local distribution. Its record is quite brief. 

 Linsley gives a single instance of its breeding at Strat- 

 ford, Conn. (Am. Journ. Sci., xliv, 1843, p. 267). Coues 

 records a Connecticut specimen in the Museum of the 

 Essex Institute, Salem, from West Haven (Pr. Essex 

 Inst., v, 1868, p. 296) ; apparently the same as noted by 

 Brewer (Pr. Bost. Soc., xvii, 1875, p. 447). Merriam 

 records two cases for the same State : a specimen taken 

 at Portland, by W: W. Coe, and another at Saybrook, in 

 midwinter (Jan. 14, 1876), by J. N. Clark (kev. B. Conn., 

 1877, p. 115). For Massachusetts, Purdie gives the first 

 record, that of a specimen in the collection of Geo. O. 

 Welch, shot at Nahant, Nov. 21, 1875* (Bull. Nutt. 



* This is the specimen noted by Brewer (Pr. Bost. Soc., xix, 1878, 

 p. 307) in * the cabinet of Mr. Willard S. Brewer," " shot at 

 Nahant in the spring of 1876." (See Brewster, Bull. Nutt. Club, 



