582 THE CLAPPER RAIL. 



The general color of the Water Rail is buffy-brown above, richly mottled with velvety- 

 black. The throat is gray ; the sides of tlie neck, the breast, and abdomen are slaty -gray, 

 changing on the flanks into grayish-black barred with white and buff, and to cream-white on 

 the under tail-coverts. The bill is brown at the tip, and light orange at the base. The length 

 of the Water Rail is about one foot. 



Of the Virginian Rail, Wilson writes : " It is frequently seen along the borders of our 

 salt-marshes, and also breeds there, as well as among the meadows that border on large rivers. 

 It spreads over the interior as far west as the Ohio, having myself shot it in the barrens of 

 Kentucky early in May. The people there observe them in wet places, in the groves, only in 

 spring. It feeds less on vegetable and more on animal food than the common Rail. During 

 the months of September and October, when the reeds and wild oats swarm with the latter 

 species, feeding on their nutritious seeds, a few of the present kind are occasionally found, 

 but not one for five hundred of the others. 



"The food of the present species consists of small snail-shells, worms, and the larvse of 

 insects, wdiich it extracts from the mud : hence the cause of its greater length of bill, to enable 

 it the more readily to reach its food. On this account, also, its flesh is much inferior to that 

 of the others. In most of its liabits, its thin, compressed form of body, its aversion to take 

 wing, and the dexterity with which it runs or conceals itself among the grass and sedge, are 

 exactly similar to those of the common Rail." 



In some parts of America it is known under the name of the Fresh- water Mud-hen, because 

 it frequents those parts of the marshes where fresh-water springs rise through the morass. " In 

 these places it generally constructs its nest, one of which we had the good fortune to discover. 

 It was built in the bottom of a tuft of grass in the inidst of an almost impenetrable quagmire, 

 and was composed altogether of old wet grass and rushes. The eggs had been flooded out of the 

 nest by the extraordinary rise of the tide in a violent northeast storm, and lay scattered about the 

 drift-weed. The usual number of eggs is from six to ten. They are of a dirty white or pale cream 

 color, sprinlded with specks of reddish and pale purple, most numerous near the gi-eat end. ' ' 



The top of the head and the upper surface of the body are black streaked with brown ; 

 the cheeks and a streak over tlie eye are ashen-gray ; and by the lower eyelid tliere is a white 

 mark. The wing-coverts are a light chestnut, the quills are dusky black ; there is a white 

 streak on the bend of the wings ; the chin is white, and the whole lower surface is orange- 

 brown. The female may be distinguished from the male by the pale breast and the greater 

 amount of white on the clun and throat. The average length of the adult male is ten inches, 

 the female being about half an inch shorter. 



The A'irginian Rail inliabits the United States and British provinces. It breeds commonly 

 in New England, and winters in the Southern States and beyond. 



Wilson says: "This species very much resembles the European Water Rail {RaUas 

 aquaticus), but is smaller. It is migratory, never wintering in the Northern or Middle States. 

 It makes its appearance in May, and leaves for the South on the first frosts. It is not only 

 shy, but contrives to be seldom within sight. It flies with the legs dangling, generally but a 

 short distance, but the moment it alights runs off with great speed. 



The RED-BREASTf:D Rail ( Rallus elegans). Tliis bird inhabits the United States, but moi-e 

 particularly the southern portions. It readies on the Atlantic side as far as the Middle States, 

 occasionally to Connecticut. In tlie interior it reaches Kansas and Missouri ; on the Pacific 

 side, to Oregon. It is also found in Cuba- and Mexico. It winters in tlie Southern States. 

 It is chiefly confined to salt marshes on the coast. At Great Salt Lake it is not uncommon. 



The Californian Clapper Rail {Eallus ohsolefns) is a species knomi to the Pacific 

 coast. It was formerly regarded as a variety of the preceding. 



The Clapper Rail {Rallus longirostris crepitans) is a closely allied form to the preceding. 

 Wilson says of it: "Tliis is a very numerous and well-known species, inhabiting our whole 



