WADING BIRDS 



RAILS, GALLINULES and COOTS. Family RALLID^E 



Members of this family are almost exclusively frequenters of marshes, 

 where they lead a shy, retiring life and are more often heard than seen. 



208. KING RAIL. Rallus elegans. 



Range. Fresh water marshes of eastern United States from New England 

 and the Dakotas, southward. Very abundant on the South Atlantic coast, in 

 the inland marshes. 



This is one of the largest of the Rails, (17 

 inches in length) and may be known by the 

 richness of its plumage, the breast and wing 

 coverts being a rich cinnamon color. It is 

 almost exclusively a fresh water species and is 

 very rarely found around a salt water marsh. 

 Its nest is built on the ground, in a tuft of grass 

 and weeds woven about the upright stalks. 

 They lay from five to twelve eggs having a 

 cream colored ground, sparingly speckled with 

 brown and lilac. Size 1.60 x 1,20. Data. Clark 

 County, Missouri, June 6, 1893. 10 eggs. Nest Cream color. 



composed of reed stalks; a slightly concave mass 8 inches across, and only 

 two inches above the water, in a clump of reeds. Collector, Ed. S. Currier. 



2()f). BELDING'S RAIL. Rallus beldingi. 



Range. Lower California and the islands in the Gulf. 



This is a locally confined species, very similar to the preceding but darker 

 and with the flank bars narrower. Its nesting or eggs will not differ from those 

 of the King Rail. 



CALIFORNIA CLAPPER RAIL. Rallus obsoletus. 



Range. Salt marshes of the Pacific coast of the United States. 



This species is like a dull colored King Rail, 

 with reference to the markings of the back, or 

 a bright colored Clapper Rail, as it has a cinna- 

 mon colored breast. It is an abundant species 

 in nearly all the salt marshes along the coast, 

 They make their nests on the higher parts of 

 the marsh, where it is comparatively dry, build- 

 ing them of grass and strips of rushes. They 

 lay from four to nine eggs of a light buff color, 

 boldly spotted with brown, and with fainter 

 markings of lilac. Size 1.75 x 1.25. Data. 

 Palo Alto, Gal., May 1, 1899. Nest of marsh 

 grass under a small bush on bank of slough. 

 Collector, Ernest Adams. 



Light buff. 



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