THE VIRGINIAN RAIL. 179 



Length 9^. 



Young bird fledged. 



When fully fledged the young does not differ materially in colour from 

 the old, the tints being merely somewhat duller. 



In colouring, this species is so nearly allied to JR. elegans, that the de- 

 scription of the one might pass very well for that of the other; the principal 

 difference being that the sides of the head are grey in the former, and dusky 

 in the latter. Of course, the difference in size and habits is sufficient to 

 prevent their being confounded together. 



In an adult male, the width of the mouth is only 3 twelfths; on the palate 

 are two papillate ridges, then anteriorly a single series of strong reversed 

 papillas, and towards the end a median ridge. The tongue is 1 inch 2 

 twelfths in length, very slender, broadly channelled above in its whole 

 length, horny beneath, the tip narrow, thin-edged, and slightly slit. The 

 oesophagus is 3 inches 10 twelfths long, 3 twelfths in width; the proventri- 

 culus ovate, 3^ twelfths in breadth. The stomach is of moderate size, 10 

 twelfths long, 11 twelfths broad; its lateral muscles very large, as are the 

 tendons, the lower muscle prominent; the epithelium dense, bright red, with 

 numerous longitudinal rugae, being thus less adapted for grinding than that 

 of the Sora Rail. The contents are numerous fragments of small shells, and 

 remains of insects. The lobes of the liver are very unequal, the left 1 inch, 

 the right lA- inches in length. The intestine is 18 inches long, its average 

 width 2lf twelfths; the coeca 1 inch 7 twelfths long, 2|- twelfths in width, 

 rounded at the end, 1 inch 10 twelfths from the extremity; the cloaca 

 globular, 10 twelfths in diameter. 



The trachea is 3 inches long, much flattened, from 1-| twelfths to 1 twelfth 

 in breadth; the rings feeble, divided as in the Sora Rail, and 120 in number; 

 bronchi moderate, of 15 half rings. 



This species also I found in Texas, and from thence to the mouths of the 

 Mississippi. 



