CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 7. GRALLATORES. 



269 



THE COMMON AMERICAN CAROLINA RAIL. 



The Fresh-Water Marsii-IIen, R. clegans, is a large atiJ beautiful species, nineteen inches 

 long ; upper parts streaked with brownish-black and light olive-brown ; beneath bright orange 

 and greenish-brown. It frequents fresh-water marshes and ponds in the interior, as well as along 



the coast, from Texas to New Jer- 



7/ >^xs— ^y--^.' -:s==s=£;^ ^^7' '^'^^^7 fi^>""dant in the South- 



fe^|K-^-Cs^.;lV^^^^^^^£=^ western States. It feeds on seeds, 



-% ^%^A^^/|-?k£^=f-^^^--%- insects, tadpoles, leeches, and small 



crawfish ; the nost is made on the 

 ground, being raised six or eight 

 inches by a mass of withered leaves 

 / and grass ; eggs eight to ten. 

 .^^ Genus PORZ AN A : Porzana. — 

 . :5> This includes the Common Rail of 

 ^ the United States, known by the va- 

 rious names of Carolina Ra'il^ Soree 

 Rail, English Rail — P. Carolina — 

 Ortygometra Carolina of De Kay 

 and Audubon, Rallus Carolinus of 

 Bonaparte ; it is nine and a half 

 inches long, brown-olive above, beneath varied with white, black, and ash. It breeds in the vast 

 reedy swamps and lagoons throughout the temperate portions of the United States. Its flesh is 

 greatly prized, and it is much sought for by the sportsmen of the Middle and Southern States, 

 where it appears in large numbers in autumn, being particularly abundant along the shores of the 

 Atlantic rivers, near their mouths. 



Other species are the Little Black Rail, P. Jamaicensis, found in the Middle and Southern 

 States along the Atlantic shores, and the Yellow Rail, P. JVoveboracensis, found in Eastern North 

 America. 



Genus CREX : CVe.r.— This in- 

 cludes several species of Rail, called 

 Crakes in England. The promi- 

 nent species is the Corn-Crake, 

 Corn-Drake, or Land-Rail of 

 the English, the Roi des Cailles 

 of the French, Re di Quaglie of 

 the Italians, and Wachtel-Konig 

 of the Germans ; C. pratcnsis. It 

 is seven inches long, mottled above 

 with dark brown, ash and reddish, 

 breast olive, abdomen white. It 

 is very shy, lives in grassy mead- 

 ows, fields of young corn, and 

 osier-beds; feeds on worms, snails, 

 insects, larva}, seeds, and grain ; 

 makes its nest on the ground, and 

 lays from ten to twelve eggs. It 

 is not easily flushed, but runs 

 rapidly before a dog. The young 

 are covered with a blackish down, 

 and are almost immediately able to follow the mother upon being hatched. This species^ in- 

 habits Europe generally; it is found in Greenland, and is accidental on the coasts of the United 

 States. 



Other species are the Spotted Crake, C. porzana ; Little Crake, C. pusilla ; Baillon s 

 Crake, C. Baillonii ; all found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. 



LAND-RAIL. 



