140 RAILS, GALL1XULES, AND COOTS. 



II. Bill under 1-75. 

 A. Wing over 6-00. 



a. General color blue, feet yellow 218. PURPLE GALLINI LE. 



b. General color slaty, feet dark greenish. 



b 1 . Toes with large scalloped webs or flaps at the side. 221. AM. COOT. 



b*. Toes without flaps or webs 219. FLORIDA GALLIXULE. 



R Wing under C'OO. 



a. Wing under 3-50. 



a 1 . Back blackish, with small round, white spots . 216. BLACK KAIL. 

 a*. Back blackish, barred with white and margined with buffy. 



215. YELLOW KAIL. 



b. Wing over 3-50. 



6. Bill over 1-00 212. VIRGINIA RAIL. 



c. Bill under 1-00. 



<*. Wing over 4-50, lesser wing-coverts rufous . 217. CORN-CRAKE. 



c*. Wing .under 4-50, lesser wing-coverts olive .... 214. SORA. 



208. Rallus elegans A >//. KIM; RAIL : M.u:sn HEX. A<L Upper 

 parts varying from olive-brown to black, the back and scapulars widely mar- 

 gined with olive-gray; wings and tail olive-brown; wing-coverts rufous; 

 throat white; neck and breast cinnamon-rufovs ; belly and sides fuscovt, 

 sharply barred with white. Downy Young Glossy black. L., 15-00; W., 

 6-50 ; Tar., 2-20 ; B., 2-40. 



Jiant/c. Eastern North America; breeds as far north as Missouri and 

 southern Connecticut, and occasionally strays a.-- far as Wisconsin, Ontario, 

 and Maine; winters from Virginia southward. 



Washington, uncommon S. R., almost a P. R. Long Island, rare S. R. 



.\'*t, of grasses, on the ground in fresh-water marshes. E<JIJS, seven to 

 twelve, butty white, more heavily spotted and speckled with rufous-brown 

 than those of the next species, 1-68 x 1-20. 



The King Rail is the fresh-water representative of the Clapper Rail. 

 It is, however, a much less common bird, and less is known of its 

 habits. Like other Rails, it is a skulker, and never flies when it can 

 escape by running or hiding in the dense grass of its home. ( >n tluve 

 occasions I have heard what I arn quite sure was the King Rail's call, 

 a loud, startling hup, blip, bitp. hup, }>uj>, uttered with increasing ra- 

 pidity until the syllables were barely distinguishable, then ending some- 

 what as it began. The whole performance occupied about five seconds. 



211. Rallus longirostris crepitans f '/;//. /.i. CLAI-I-EU RAIL; 

 MARSH HKN. i See Fig. 22, n. ) .-!</. Upper parts very pale greenish olive, 

 the feathers widely margined with gray; wings and tail grayish brown; 

 wing-coverts pah- cinnamon, much washed with gray: throat white; neck 

 and breast /<</, between ochraeeoits anil cream-bull', more or less washed 

 with grayish ; belly and sides -.'ray <>r brownish gray, barred with white. 

 i Glossy black. L., 14-50; W., 5-00 ; Tar., 2-00; B., 2'50. 



Remarks. The Clapper Kail may always be known from the King Rail 



