6 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 67 



these three birds all existed today they would of course all be cotypes. In the 

 plate the female is not figured, only the adult male and young. 



If this specimen were to be accepted as a cotype, the type locality 

 would have to include Camden, N.J. However, in his original descrip- 

 tion of R. elegans^ Audubon (1835) said that most of his observations 

 of this species were in South Carolina. 



SYSTEMATIC POSITION 



The King Rail belongs to the order Gruiformes, which in North 

 America includes the cranes, limpkins, rails, gallinules, and coots. 

 Birds of this group mostly inhabit wetland environments, particularly 

 marshes. 



The suborder Grues includes the families Gruidae (cranes) and 

 Aramidae (limpkins). Rails, gallinules, and coots belong to the sub- 

 order Ralli, which contains a single family, Rallidae. In North Amer- 

 ica this family comprises seven genera and nine species. 



The three North American species of the genus Rallus^ R. elegans 

 (the King Rail), R. longirostris (the Clapper Rail), and R. limicola 

 (the Virginia Rail) , have laterally compressed bodies which facilitate 

 passage through dense marsh vegetation; rather long, slender, and 

 slightly curved bills which are as long as or longer than the tarsi, and 

 longer than the heads; large, strong legs; long, slender, unwebbed 

 toes; short, rounded wings (with vestigial claws); short, tip-up, 

 pointed tails less than half as long as the wings ; flanks conspicuously 

 barred with white ; olive or grayish dorsal regions which are striped 

 with black or dusky markings; and buffy or rufescent breasts. R. ele- 

 gans is larger than R. limicola^ which it resembles in color, and is 

 more rufescent than races of R. longirostris but is about the same size 

 as that species. 



Two races of the King Rail are generally recognized : Rallus elegans 

 elegans of North America, and Rallus elegans ramsdeni^ the Cuban 

 form. Apparently a third form, Rallus elegans tenuirostris^ occurs in 

 the fresh-water marshes of the Valley of Mexico. There is a difference 

 of opinion concerning the systematic position of tenuirostris, some 

 authors assigning it to Rallus elegans and others to Rallus longirostris. 

 The recent work of Warner and Dickerman (1959) seems to indicate 

 that the plumage and inland distribution of this form are more like 

 that of Rallus elegans. 



RELATIONSHIP TO THE CLAPPER RAIL 



Some ornithologists believe that King and Clapper Rails are merely 

 races of the same species. Structurally and behaviorally they are simi- 

 lar. The plumages of several Clapper races closely resemble that of 

 the King Rail. Their breeding ranges overlap in numerous coastal 

 brackish marshes, in at least one of which there is absolute evidence 

 of interbreeding resulting in the production of viable eggs. 



