110 BIRDS OF NORTH CAROLINA 



This visit to Jack's Grass was in the days before the discovery of the variety 

 known as Wayne's Rail, which very closely resembles the Clapper Rail, and as no 

 specimens were shot and preserved, it is impossible to state which of the two forms 

 may have predominated. Clapper Rails are known to have been taken at Fort 

 Macon and Pea Island. A rail shot by Pearson on Dutchman's Creek in Bruns- 

 wick County, August 14, 1909, and laboriously retrieved by H. H. Brimley, proved 

 to be a typical Clapper Rail. Three specimens in the American Museum of Natu- 

 ral History, New York City, were taken at Hatteras on March 2, 3, and 7, 1900. 



89. Rallus crepitans waynei (Brewst.). WAYNE'S CLAPPER RAIL. 



Description. -"Similar to R. crepitans, but the general coloring much darker, the underparts 

 with more ashy, the under tail-coverts with fewer markings" (Brewst., Proc. N. E. Zool. 

 Club, I, 1899, p. 50). 



Range. Salt-marshes of the south Atlantic coast from North Carolina to Florida. 



Range in North Carolina. -Salt-marshes of the coastal region. The exact distribution of the 

 two Clapper Rails in the State is not yet well understood, most of our records dating from 

 before the time when waynei was first recognized. 



Bishop reports this bird to be a common summer resident on Pea Island, breed- 

 ing in May, its habits being in no way distinguishable from those of the Clapper 

 Rail. He also mentions a female taken on February 9 and a male on February 11, 

 1901, both of which were pronounced typical by Brewster, who first described this 

 subspecies. (Auk, 1901, p. 265.) Four specimens in the American Museum of 

 Natural History, New York City, were collected at Hatteras on November 7, 1899, 

 and on March 3, May 5, and July 9, 1900. 



90. Rallus virginianus (Linn.). VIRGINIA RAIL. 



Ad. Upperparts fuscous or black, the feathers bordered by pale grayish brown; wings and 

 tail dark grayish brown; wing-coverts rufous, lores whitish, cheeks gray, throat white; rest of 

 the underparts cinnamon-rufous; flanks and under tail-coverts barred or spotted with black 

 and white. Downy young. Glossy black. L., 9.50; W., 4.30; Tar., 1.30; B., 1.50. 



FIG. 72. VIRGINIA RAIL. 



Range. North America. Breeds from British Columbia, southern Saskatchewan, southern 

 Keewatin, Ontario, southern Quebec, and New Brunswick south to southern California, Utah, 

 Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, New Jersey, and eastern North Carolina, and in Toluca Valley, 

 Mexico; winters from Oregon, Utah, and Colorado, to Lower California and Guatemala; also 

 in the Lower Mississippi States, and from North Carolina (casually Massachusetts) to Florida; 

 occurs occasionally north to northern Quebec and Newfoundland. (Chap., Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range in North Carolina. Apparently resident in at least portions of the coastal region; 

 migrant in rest of State. 



The Virginia Rail, although smaller than the King Rail, much resembles it in 

 general appearance. Its range as a breeding bird has not usually been supposed 



