VIRGINIA EAIL. 509 



eqnallicg or exceeding tarsi, simple or lobate. Bill not constricted in the middle, rather 

 shorter than bead, straight and quite stoat; or much longer, regularly slender and 

 decurved, with long nasal fossse. Nostrils incompletely or not perforate. 



Suit-family Rallin^. Rails. 

 Feet simple ; head without frontal plate. 



Genus R4LLUS Linnaeus. 

 Bill longer than the head, curved. 



Rallus elegans Aud. 



H'resh.--TO'ater ]VIarsli JBCen- 



Ballus elegans, Whbaton, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860. 369, 378 ; Reprint, 1861, H, 20 ; Food 

 of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep., for ]ti74, 573; Reprint, 1875, 13. — Langdon, Cat. 

 Birds of Gin., 1877, 16; Revised List, Joara. Oin. Soo. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 189; Re- 

 print, 18 ; Summer Birds, ib., iii, 18s0, -^^7. 



Ballus elegans, Auddbon, Orn. Biog., iii, 1835, 27. 



Above brownish-blacli ; vaiiegated with olive-brown, becoming rich chestnut on the 

 wing coverts; under-parts rich rufous or cinnamon-brown, usually paler on the middle 

 of the belly and whitening on the throat; flaulis aud axillars blackish, white-barred. 

 Length, about 16 ; wing, 5-6; tail, 2-2| ; bill, 2J; tarsus, 2; middle toe and claw, 21-. 

 Female smaller. 



Habit it. United States, rather southerly. North on the Atlantic coast regularly to the 

 Middle States, casually to Connecticut; in the interior to Kansas and Missouri at least; 

 oa the Pacific side to Oregon and Washington. 'Jiiba. Mexico. Winters in the South- 

 ern States. 



Not an uncommon migrant, most frequently seen in spring. Prob- 

 ably a summer resident breeding in extensive swamps and marshes. 

 Dr. Howard E. Jones informs me that he has taken the young in the 

 vicinity of Circleville. It is frequently confounded with and known as 

 the Clapper Rail, but the latter is confined to the vicinity of salt water, 

 and is a bird of duller plumage. 



The eggs measure about 1.66 by 1.10. The color varies from dull white 

 to cream or pale buff, with reddish- brown markings. 



Rallus vibginanus L. 



"Virginia Xlail. 



Ballus virginianus, Nuttall, Man. ii, 1835, 205.— Kirtland, Ohio Geolog. Surv,, 1838, 

 165, 185.— Whbaton, Field Notes, i, 1861, 153 ; Ohio Agric. Reg. for 1860, 369, 378 ; 

 Reprint, 1861, 11, 20 ; Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 573; Reprint, 

 1875, 13.— Langdon, Cat. Birds of Gin., 1877, 16; Revised List, Journ. Gin. Soc. Nat. 

 Hist., i, 1879, 184 ; Reprin», 18. 



Virginia Rail, BaLLOU, Field and Forest, iii, 1878, 136. 



Ballus virgmianua, LiNN.«JUS, Syst. Nat., i, 1766, 283. 



