RALLUS. : 137 
a platform-like structure of dried grasses, sedges, etc., supported in tufts of grass 
or sedges in marshes or ponds. Eggs 6-15, white, buffy white, dull buff, or pale 
brownish buff, rather sparingly spotted and speckled with rusty brown and 
purplish gray. 
a', Larger (wing more than 5.00). 
b'. Ground-color of upper parts grayish (varying from ash-gray to olive- 
gray). 
c. Breast, etc., pale cinnamon-buff, tinged with ashy across chest; darker 
stripes on back, etc., usually indistinct (sometimes almost obsolete) ; 
flanks, etc., grayish brown, broadly barred with white, but without 
darker bars ; length 13.50-15.60, wing 5.40-6.30 (5.79), culmen 2.10- 
2.60 (2.36), depth of bill at narrowest part .22-.30, at base 47-50 
(.49), tarsus 1.85-2.27 (2.00), middle toe 1.70-2.00 (1.83). Eggs 1.72 
X< 1.20. Hab. Salt-water marshes of Atlantic coast, north, regularly, 
to Long Island, casually to Massachusetts. 
(15.) 211. R. longirostris crepitans (GmezL.). Clapper Rail. 
c. Breast, etc, deeper cinnamon; darker stripes on back, etc., very dis- 
tinct; flanks, etc., darker or deeper brown, more narrowly barred 
with white, and with more or less distinct narrow dusky bars bor- 
dering the white ones. 
d', Above ‘ash-gray, broadly and sharply striped with blackish brown 
or brownish black; breast, ete., dull cinnamon, strongly shaded 
with olive-gray laterally ; sides of neck olive-gray, shaded with 
ash-gray, this passing into slate-gray on sides of head, especi- 
ally behind eye; ground-color of flanks, etce., darker brown ; 
length about 12.00-14.00, wing 5.60-5.70 (5.65), culmen 2.10- 
2.45 (2.27), least depth of bill .22-.28 (.25), tarsus 1.95-2.00 
(1.97), middle toe 1.75-1.80 (1.78). Hab. Coast of Louisiana ; 
western Florida ?...... 21la. R. longirostris saturatus HEnsu. 
(16.) Louisiana Clapper Rail. 
d, Above olive-gray or grayish olive, broadly, but usually not sharply, 
striped with blackish brown; breast, ete., uniform deep cinna- 
mon, not strongly shaded with gray laterally, the sides of the 
neck dull grayish cinnamon, and sides of head without pure 
gray; ground-color of flanks, ete., lighter brown; length 17.00- 
18.00, wing 6.20-6.70 (6.63), culmen 2.25-2.50 (2.40), least depth 
of bill .30-.35 (.33), depth at base .50, tarsus 2.10-2.30 (2.18), 
middle toe 1.90-2.15 (2.04). Hggs 1.75 x 1.24. Hab. Salt-water 
marshes of Pacific coast (Lower California to Oregon). 
210. R. obsoletus Ripaw. California Clapper Rail. 
b?, Ground color of upper parts distinctly brownish (varying from deep raw- 
umber brown or olive-brown to fulvous-brown), very distinctly, and 
usually sharply, striped with brownish black. 
co. Flanks, etc., with the lighter (pure white) bars very broad (averaging 
18 
