u 



^^^'- 



274 EALLIDiE, RAILS, ETC. GEN. 242. 



crissum rufescent. Adult with the face and central line of throat black, the 

 rest of the throat, line over eye, and esijecially the breast, more or less 



intensely slate-gray, the sides of the breast usually 

 with some obsolete whitish barring and speckling ; 

 young without this black, the throat whitish, the 

 breast brown. Length 8-9 ; wing 4-4 J ; tail about 

 2 ; bill l-l ; tarsus IJ ; middle toe and claw 1§. 

 Temperate N. Am., exceedingly abundant during 

 ^^fc^ _i;:h£:1 the migration in the reedy swamps of the Atlantic 

 FIG. 179. Carolina Eaii. states. WiLS.,vi, 27, pi. 48, f. 1; NUTT., ii, 209; 



AuD., V, 145, pi. 306; Cass, in Bd., 749 caholina. 



, , Yellow Rail. Above, varied with blackish and ochrey-brown, and thickly 

 H*" Warked with narrow white semicircles and transverse bars; below, pale 

 ochrey-brown, fading on the belly, deepest on the breast, where many 

 feathers are dark-tipped; flanks dark with numerous white bars; crissum 

 varied with black, white and rufous. Small, about 6 long ; wing 3i ; tail 1 J ; 

 bill J ; tarsus -J ; middle toe and claw 1^. Eastern N. Am., not abundant. 

 BoNAP., Am. Orn. iv, 136, pi. 27, f. 2 ; Sw. and Eich., Fn. B.-A. ii, 402 ; 

 NuTT., ii, 215 ; Aud., v, 152, pi. 307 ; Cass, in Bd., 750. noveboeacensis. 

 Blach Bail. Blackish; head and under parts dark slaty, paler or 

 whitening ou the throat; above, speckled with white, the cervix and upper 

 back varied with dark chestnut; lower belly, crissum, flanks and axillars, 

 white-barred ; quills with white spots. Very small ; about 5J ; wing 2|-3 ; 

 tail Ii ; tarsus f . S. and Cent. Am. and West Indies ; rarely observed in 

 the U. S. Washington, D. C, (Coues and Prentiss); Kansas, {Allen). 

 Aud., V, 157, pi. 308; Cass, in Bd., 749 jamaicexsis. 



242. Genus CREX Bechstein. 



-1 \ Corn Crake. Yellowish-brown, varied with black; below, cinereous- 

 whitish, palest on the throat and belly ; wings extensively rufous both above 

 and below; flanks and crissum barred with the same ; 10-11; wing 5i-6 ; 

 tail 2 ; bill 1 ; tarsus 1|. Europe ; Greenland ; accidentally ou the Atlantic 

 Coast, U. S. Cass., Proc. Phila. Acad. 1855, 265 (New Jersey), and in 

 Bd., 751 ; Baikd, Am. Jouru. Sci. 1866,xli, 25 peatensis. 



Suhfamihj GALLINULINJE. GalUnules. 



Forehead shielded by a broad, bare, homy plate, a prolongation and expansion 

 of the cuhneu. Bill otherwise much as in the shorter-billed rails, lilve Porzana; 

 general form much the same, though the body is not so compressed ; toes slender, 

 simple or slightly margined. The two following genera differ considerably, and 

 each becomes the type of a subfamily with those who elevate the gallinules to the 

 rank of a family ; hut this does not seem to be required. In Oallinula, the nostrils 

 are linear, and the toes have an evident marginal membrane. Porphyrio (not " Por- 

 phyrula") has broadly oval nostrils and no obvious digital membranes; the legs 

 are notably longer, with shorter toes ; the bill is thicker, etc. There are about 

 thirty species of gallinules, of various parts of the world. 



