322 



The Crane-like Birds 



fresh-water marshes of the eastern United States, but is not a very abundant 

 species and comparatively little is known of its habits. Its nest is made in 

 marshes and is often raised several inches above the general surface by means 

 of withered weeds and grasses; the number of eggs is usually nine or ten. The 

 Clapper Rail (R. crepitans}, an allied form of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of 

 the United States, is a frequenter of grassy, salt-water marshes and mangrove 

 swamps, and although not exactly gregarious, lives somewhat in colonies and is 

 frequently found in great numbers. It is a shy, skulking bird, rarely taking 

 wing, and when it does so, flying with a heavy, labored flight. It feeds on small 

 crabs, minute crustaceans, and seeds, and in fall becomes excessively fat, when it 

 is highly esteemed for food. Local races of this form are known in Louisiana 

 and Florida, and several other species are known in various parts of North 

 America. Of the Old World representatives, the Water Rail (R. aquaticus) is 

 found in Europe and central Asia in summer and in northern Africa and India 

 in winter, and the Caffre Rail (R. ccerulescens] in South Africa, while the Indian 

 Rail (R. indicus) is a native of eastern Siberia and Japan, returning southward 

 in winter. The habits of all are similar. 



The Sora or Carolina Rail (Porzana Carolina) of temperate North America 

 may be taken as the representative of another large and widely distributed genus 

 of some sixteen species. It differs from the true Rails in having a short, stout 

 bill which is not more than two thirds the length of the tarsus. It is about eight 

 and one half inches long and is more or less olive-brown above and white below, 

 with the front of the head, chin, and throat deep black, and the flanks barred 

 with black. It is an inhabitant of fresh-water marshes, where, especially during 

 the migrations, they often congregate in thousands. They feed largely on seeds, 

 particularly those of the wild rice, and in fall become very fat and are then killed 

 in great numbers for the table. Like the others of its race it is shy and rarely seen 

 unless searched for, and when standing silent and motionless among the reeds 

 and rushes of its home is almost invisible. It has a variety of notes and calls, 

 especially during the nesting season, and the clear, whistled kee-wee from a 

 thousand voices in a well-stocked marsh suggests the "springtime chorus of 



piping frogs." They breed in the marshes, 

 building a very slight nest of grasses on some 

 bog or tussock, and lay from^even to twelve 

 drab-colored, brown-spotted eggs. 



Corncrake. Quite closely allied to the 

 last and having the same stout bill, but a 

 much shorter middle toe, is the Corncrake, 

 or Land Rail (Crex crex), of Europe and 

 central Asia, which occurs somewhat regu- 

 larly in Greenland and occasionally in east- 

 ern North America. It has a length of about 

 ten inches, and is yellowish brown above, 



each feather with a dark center, and white below, with the flanks broadly barred 

 with brown and buff. This is one of the commonest of British birds, being 



FIG. 104. Corncrake, Crex crex. 



