APPENDIX 259 



YELLOW RAIL 



(215. Coturnicops noveboracensis) 7 in. 



Upper parts buffy and black, white-barred; neck and breast 

 buffy; sides brown-and- white-barred. Bill only one-half inch long. 



General appearance, at a distance or in flight, strongly yellowish, 

 hence the name. 



W.V. Rare. Inland marshes. Its range is "Central Canada to 

 Gulf Coast and California." 



FARALLON RAIL 



(216.1. Creciscus coturniculus) 5| in. 



Dark brown above, specked and finely barred with white; otherwise 

 dark slaty, white-barred on belly and under tail-coverts. At a distance 

 appears wholly black, hence the common name " Little Black Rail." 

 Smallest of the Rails, and so secretive in habit that it is almost never 

 seen except when forced into flight by dogs. 



Southwestern California Res. Rare. Known to nest in our 

 region only in salt marshes near San Diego. (Bursting of a reservoir 

 and flooding of this marsh in 1916 all but exterminated the colony.) 

 More generally distributed in fall and winter, when recorded from 

 interior points. 



KNOT 



(234. Calidris canutus) 9 in. 



Upper parts a dusky-and-gray mixture, buffy washed; under parts 

 and sides of head light cinnamon (hence "Robin Snipe," as it is called 

 in eastern United States). 



In winter, plain gray above with dusky central marks; white below, 

 fore parts more or less dusky-streaked. 



Bill short, otherwise somewhat resembles the Dowitcher (note 

 grayer back and absence of spotting below). 



Southern California Migrant Rare. Recorded on ocean 

 beach and tide-flat, chiefly in Sept.-Oct. Spring records very few. 

 'Range almost world- wide. Nests in high Arctics, wintering to 

 southern South America, South Africa, and New Zealand. 



SURF-BIRD 



(282. Aphriza virgata) 10 in. 



Rump white, otherwise whole upper parts a slaty gray with whitish 

 edgings and touches of rusty; white below, heavily marked with dusky 

 wedges and crescents. Winter: Solid dusky above, lower parts less 

 heavily spotted. 



