140 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



depth of bill through base .20-.25, tarsus .85-.90, middle toe 

 .80-1.00. Eggs about 9, 1.01 X .79, white, or buffy white, 

 sprinkled, or finely speckled, chiefly on larger end, with dark 

 reddish brown or chestnut. Hob. United States (north to 

 Oregon, Kansas, Illinois, Massachusetts, etc.), and south through 

 "West Indies, Middle America, and greater part of South 

 America, to Chili.. 216. P. jamaicensis (GaiEL.). Black Rail. 

 c 2 . Wing 2.50 ; back without white markings. 



Wing 2.50, culmen .60, depth of bill through base .15, tarsus .75, 

 middle toe .85. Hab. Farallone Islands, California. 



216a. P. jamaicensis coturniculus BAIRD. Farallone Rail. 

 a 2 . Secondaries white. (Subgenus Coturnicops BONAPARTE.) 



Head, neck, and breast ochraceous ; flanks dusky, barred with whitish ; 

 under tail-coverts cinnamon ; under wing-coverts and axillars white ; 

 upper parts ochraceous, broadly striped with black and narrow^ barred 

 with white; length 6.00-7.75, wing 3.00-3.60, culmen .50-.60, tarsus 

 .95-1.00, middle toe .90-1.00. Eggs 6 or more, 1.12 X -83, creamy buff, 

 densely sprinkled and speckled on larger end with rusty brown. Hab. 

 Eastern North America, north to Nova Scotia and Hudson's Bay, west 

 to Utah and Nevada ; Cuba ; Bermudas. 



215. P. noveboracensis (GMEL.). Yellow Rail. 



GENUS CREX BECHSTEIN. (Page 136, pi. XLL, fig. 4.) 



Species. 



Adult : Above light brown, striped with black ; wings rusty or reddish brown 

 with a few whitish bars or spots on greater coverts ; axillars and under wing-coverts 

 light cinnamon, the latter edged with white; head ash-gray, the crown and a 

 broad stripe on side of head light brown ; throat, belly, and ventral region white , 

 fore-neck and chest pale brownish or drab ; sides and under tail-coverts barred with 

 brown and white. Young : Similar, but without any gray on head. Downy young : 

 Uniform dark sooty brown, the head blackish. Length about 10.00-10.50, wing 

 5.70-6.00, culmen .85-.90, tarsus 1.50-1.60, middle toe 1.30. Eggs about 11, 1.49 X 

 1.07, light buff, or pale olive-buff, spotted, longitudinally, with cinnamon-brown, or 

 rusty, and purplish gray. Hab. More northern portions of eastern hemisphere; 

 accidental in eastern North America (Greenland, Bermudas, Long Island, etc.). 



217. C. crex (LINN.). Corn Crake. 



GENUS IONORNIS EEICHENBACH. (Page 136, pi. XLIL, fig. 1.) 



Species. 



Adult : Head, neck, and lower parts slaty bluish purple, darker on belly and 

 thighs ; lower tail-coverts white ; upper parts bright olive-green, changing to bright 

 verditer-blue toward the purple of the lower parts ; wings brighter green than back, 

 shaded with bright verditer-blue ; frontal shield dusky or bluish ; bill bright red, 



