64 PALUDICOLJE: Cranes, Rails, etc. 



SORA 



(214. Porzana Carolina) 8| in. 



Upper parts brown; feathers of back and wings black cen- 

 trally, more or less white-edged, black strongest on wing-coverts; 

 face and throat black; bill short, whitish; sides of neck and fore- 

 breast bluish gray; flanks sharply barred dusky and white. 



Immatures: Lighter and browner, without black face. 



In its favorite cover, a tule bed, the Sora recognizes its 

 security, and no human effort, without canine assistance will 

 drive him from it. 



FLORIDA GALLINULE 



(219. Gallinula chloropus cachinnans) 13 in. 

 Dark slaty, with brown back and wings; edge of wing and 

 sides of under tail-coverts white; bill and frontal plate red. In 

 general appearance and action on the water resembles the Coot, 

 but instantly identified by the red bill and white edge of wing. 

 Feet without webs or lobes, like those of its close relatives the 

 Rails, and like them it is a skulker in heavy marsh growth. 



COOT 



(221. Fulica americana) 15 in. 



Head and neck black; rest of plumage dark slate. Bill white, 

 with broken, dark brown ring near tip; frontal plate brownish 

 or red, smaller in winter and in immatures. 



Popularly known as Mud-hen. Recognized as a game-bird 

 only in the absence of " nobler" species. 



Feeds on roots of marsh vegetation, or, in late winter, on 

 green shoots of cultivated crops adjacent to water. 



FARALLON RAIL See Appendix. 



(216.1. Creciscus coturniculus) 5^ in. 



