140 KAILS, GALLINDLES, AND COOTS. 



II. Bill under 1-75. 

 A. Wing over 6-00. 



a. General color blue, feet yellow 218. Purple Gallinule. 



b. General color slaty, feet dark greenish. 



Ji. Toes with large scalloped webs or flaps at the side. 221. Am. Coot. 



I'. Toes without flaps or webs 219. Flobida Gallinule. 



J}. Wing under 6-00. 

 a. Wing under S*50. 

 a*. Back blackish, with small round, white spots . 216. Black Kail. 

 a'. Back blackish, baiTcd with white and margined with buff'y. 



215. Yellow Kail. 

 i. Wing over 3' 50. 



bK Bill over 1-00 212. ViKGiifLS. Kail. 



c". Bill under I'OO. 

 c'. Wing over 4-50, lesser wing-coverts rufous . 211. Corn Cbake. 

 A Wing under 4-50, lesser wing-coverts olive .... 214. Soba. 



208. Rallus elegans And. King Rail ; Marsh Hen. Ad. — Upper 

 parts varying from olive-brown to black, the back and scapulars widely mar- 

 gined with olive-gray ; wings and tail olive-brown ; wing-coverts rufoug ; 

 throat white ; neck and breast dnnamon-rufous ; belly and sides fuscous^ 

 sharply barred with white. Downy Young — Glossy black. L., IS'OO ; W., 

 6-50 ; Tar., 2-20 ; B., 2-40. 



Range. — Eastern North America; breeds as far north as Missouri and 

 southern Connecticut, and occasionally strays as far as Wisconsin, Ontario, 

 and Maine ; winters from Virginia southward. 



Washington, uncommon S. E., almost a P. E. Long Island, rare S. E. 



Nest., of grasses, on the ground in fresh-water marshes. Eggs., seven to 

 twelve, huffy white, more heavily spotted and speckled with rufous-brown 

 than those of the next species, 1'68 x 1'20. 



The King Rail is the fresh-water representative of the Clapper Rail. 

 It is, however, a much less common bird, and less is known of its 

 habits. Like other Rails, it is a skulker, and never flies when it can 

 escape by running or hiding in the dense grass of its home. On three 

 occasions I have heard what I am quite sure was the King Rail's call, 

 a loud, startling hup, hup, hwp, hup, hup, uttered with increasing ra- 

 pidity until the syllables were barely distinguishable, then ending some- 

 what as it began. The whole performance occupied about five seconds. 



211. Rallus longirostris crepitans (Gmel). Clapper Kail; 



Marsh Hen. (See Fig. 22,0.) Ad. — Upper parts very pale greenish olive, 

 the feathers widely margined with gray; wings and tail grayish brown; 

 wing-coverts pale cinnamon, much washed with gray; throat white; neck 

 and breast pale, between ochraceous and cream-buff, more or less washed 

 with grayish; belly and sides gray or brownish gray, barred with white. 

 Downy roung—Glosny black. L., 14-50 ; W., 5-00 ; Tar., 2-00 ; B., 2-50. 



Semarh. — The Clapper Kail may always be known from the King Kail 



