

BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 67 



ORDER PALUDICOLJI. RAILS, ETC. 



SUBORDER RALLI. KAILS, COOTS, ETC, 

 FAMILY RALLID-flC. RAILS, GALLINULES AND COOTS. 



SUBFAMILY RALLIN-5! RAILS. 

 THE RAILS. 



Six species are found in Pennsylvania either as summer residents, spring and fall 

 migrants or casual visitants. These birds are difficult to flush, and when started they 

 fly usually in a feeble manner, going mostly but a short distance when they alight 

 and hide in the thick vegetation abounding in the marshes and swampy places 

 which they inhabit almost habitually. Rails, when surprised in their marshy re- 

 treats, seem to prefer to escape by skulking in the reeds and grasses, but if closely 

 pressed they make short flights, dropdown suddenly, and secrete themselves or run 

 with outstretched wings over extensive spaces of water, on which scattered leaves, 

 blades of grass, or twigs, are resting. Rails, when wounded, particularly if winged, 

 frequently escape by swimming. It is surprising how rapidly these slender-toed 

 birds can escape in this manner ; they also are quite expert in diving, and some- 

 times to escape their enemies will remain for a considerable time under the water 

 clinging by the long toes to plants with only the bills above the surface. Rails lay 

 six to twelve whitish, yellowish, or grayish and spotted eggs, in shallow nests built 

 of blades of grass, reeds or small sticks, supported by tough grasses or rushes in 

 ponds and marshes. The downy young of the King, Virginia, Clapper and Sora 

 Rails are black. These birds feed largely on seeds, the tender leaves and buds of 

 various water plants. They also eat cray-fish, worms, beetles and other insects. 

 The Clapper (on salt-water marshes of Atlantic coast) and Sora Rails, which are 

 killed in great numbers by sportsmen, are very highly esteemed game birds. The 

 other species, equally as palatable, but with the exception of occasional examples of 

 the King and Virginia Rails, are seldom seen in our markets. The Sora, and scatter- 

 ing individuals of other species, particularly the Virginia and King Rails, are 

 often found, in August and early in September, in considerable numbers, in suita- 

 ble locations, in different parts of this state. Sometimes during cloudy weather, at 

 twilight and often in the night, particularly in the spring and breeding season, the 

 loud, grating cries of these birds are heard in the meadows and marshes. In the 

 genus Rallus the slender and slightly curved bill is much longer than the head : 

 maxilla, particularly in the King Rail (elegans) and Clapper Rail (crepitans) with 

 long and rather deep furrows, which start above and behind the linear nostrils and 

 extend beyond basal half of bill. In Porzana the bill, shorter than head, is straight 

 and thick with rather short, broad fossae, deepest in front of the narrow nostrils. 

 The head is feathered in front, i. e., no broad horny frontal plate as in Coot and Gal- 

 linules; tibiae naked below ; toes, long and slender, without lobes or marginal mem- 

 branes, and the wings are short and round. The tail has twelve short feathers. 



GENUS RALLUS LINNAEUS. 

 Rallus elegans A.UD. 



King Rail; Big Red Rail. 



DESCRIPTION. 



I <nilt. Length 18 inches; extent about 25. Bill little over 2 inches long. Bill 

 (dried skin) maxilla blackish-brown, lower mandible paler, darker toward end ; 



