400 THE KING RAIL. 



THE KING RAIL. 



The Virginia Rail is indeed simply the "miniature" of 

 the beautiful King Rail {Rallus elegans), which is some six- 

 teen or more inches in length, and is a rather southern 

 species, reaching only the Middle States to the eastward, 

 but extending even to Washington Territory on the Pacific. 



I have taken it in a/marsh on the southern border of Lake 

 Ontario. It is found on the south side of Lake Erie and 

 along Niagara River, and is very abundant on St. Clair 

 Flats. It is a most elegant bird, whose size, rich colors and 

 stately movements may well designate him as king of his 

 kind. The coloring may be identified by that of the Vir- 

 ginia Rail, described above. The voice, too, is similar, 

 ordinarily sounding like geek, geek, geek, geek, being especially 

 audible at night, about the ponds and sluggish streams 

 around which the bird takes up its abode. When alarmed 

 or its nest is disturbed, it emits a loud cry, like eairk, eairk, 

 eairk. The nest of this species is elegant. Placed over the 

 water in a large tuft of marsh-grass^ the bottom in the 

 water, the top some eight inches above it, and eight or ten 

 inches in external diameter, the whole is neatly laid of dried 

 grass well edged up, and gracefully sheltered and concealed 

 by the drooping tops of the tall marsh-grasses to which it 

 is fastened. 



The eggs, ten or eleven, some 1.62x1.20, are roundish 

 ovate, of a rich roseate cream, sparingly and very distinctly 

 spotted and specked with reddish-brown and lilac. The 

 nest is easily identified, as the bird sits closely. The eggs 

 seem a little larger, brighter, and more ovate than those of 

 its marine congener, the Clapper Rail. This species is very 

 shy. Though one may hear its sharp notes almost con- 

 stantly from its reedy coverts, it may require much patient 

 watching to get a good view of it. 



