34 Bird Day Book 



T 



KING RAIL 



HESE are the largest of the true rails, measuring about 

 eighteen inches in length. They are much brighter colored 

 both above and below than the similar sized Clapper Rails. 

 They inhabit almost exclusively fresh-water marshes in 

 eastern North America, breeding throughout the Eastern States and 

 wintering in the Southern ones. Their form is typical of that of 

 the rail family: long bill, long legs and short tail, the latter often 

 carried erect over the back. They are very sly and secretive in all 

 their habits, keeping well under cover of rushes or marsh grass, and 

 doing most of their feeding after dark. It is very difficult to flush 

 them, particularly without a dog. Their flight is very weak and 

 fluttering; they fly but a few yards before dropping into the pro- 

 tecting grass again. On the ground, however, they are very active 

 and quite graceful, running swiftly and threading their way with 

 ease through the densest of weeds, rushes or brush. At night the 

 marshes often resound with their loud, exposive, grunting calls. 



Their food consist of aquatic insects, seeds, roots and grasses, 

 which impart a delicate flavor to their flesh and put them in the 

 game-bird class, although the sport of shooting them is confined 

 largely to one's ability to make them fly, for once awing they are 

 so easy a mark that even a novice can seldom miss one. 



— Game Birds. 



