674 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — ALEC TOBIDES^BALLIFORMES. 
and lining of wings, barred with white and blackish ; belly whitish ; crissum rufescent. Adult 
$ 9 '• I^'i^t^e and central line of throat black, the rest of the throat, line over eye, and espe- 
cially the breast, more or less intensely slate-gray, the sides of the breast usually also with 
some obsolete whitish barring and speckling. Young : Without this black, the throat whitish, 
the breast brown. Length 8.00-9.00; extent 12.00-13.00; wing 4.00-4.50; tail about 2.00; 
bill 0.67-0.75; tarsus 1.33; middle toe and claw 1.G7. Temperate N. Am., exceedingly 
abundant during the migration in the reedy swamps of the Atlantic States, in August and 
September, when tens of thousands are killed every year. Breeds from the Middle States 
northward : -winters in the S. States and beyond. Has occurred in Greenland and Europe. 
The eggs are spotted just like those of the foregoing Balli, but are readily distinguished by 
their strong drab ground-color instead of the white or creamy and pale buflfy of the former. 
They are rather smaller than those of H. virginianuSj and perhaps more obtuse, measuring 
about 1.20 by 0.90. This is the rail of sportsmen. It is also called sora or soree; the word 
is colloquial and local. The word ' ^ ortolan " has a curious connection with this species. 
It is Italian and French, equal to the Latin hortulanus, relating to a garden: the ortolan" 
is Emheriza hortulana, a bunting, esteemed a great delicacy by gourmands ; and our crake 
has been called ortolan for no better reason than that it is also edible and sapid ! The same 
name is frequently applied to the bobolink, Doliclionyx oryzivorus, because it is found abun- 
dantly in the same marshes in the Ml, and sells in the same restaurants as the same bird as 
the rail, the two being brought in together by the gunners. 
680. P. noveboracen'sis. (Low Lat., of Noveboracum: i. e., New York.) Yellow Crake. 
Yellow^ Rail. Adult ^ 9 • Above, streaked with blackish and brownish-yellow, thickly 
marked with narrow white semicircles and transverse bars. Below, pale brownish-yellow 
fading on belly, deepest on breast, where many feathers are dark-tipped ; flanks blackish with 
numerous white bars ; crissum varied with black, white, and rufous. Lining of wings white. 
A brownish -yellow superciliary line, and dark transocular stripe. Small; about 6.00 long; 
wing 3.25; tail 1.50; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.87; middle toe and claw 1.12. Eastern N. Am., 
not abundant ; N. to Hudson's Bay : winters in the S. States. Does not appear to have been 
observed in N. England N. of Mass., nor anywhere W. of the Mississippi Valley, Texas to 
~ Minnesota ; but it is not common, is very secretive like other Rails, and readily eludes obser- 
vation; its distribution may be more general than it is known to be. Eggs about 6, rich, 
warm, buAj'-brown, marked at the great end with a cluster of reddish-chocolate dots and 
spots ; 1.15 by 0.85, to 1.05 by 0.80 ; shape as in the foregoing. 
681. P. jamaicen'sis. (Of Jamaica.). Little Black Crake. Adult ^ 9 : Upper parts 
blackish, finely speckled and barred with white, the hind neck and fore back dark chestnut. 
Head and under parts dark slate color, paler or whitening on the throat, the lower belly, 
flanks, and under wing and tail-coverts barred with white. Quills and tail-feathers with 
white spots. Very small: length about 5.50 ; wing 2.75-3.00; tail 1.35 ; tarsus 0.75. S. and 
C. America and W. I., not often found in the U. S., being one of the rarest of our birds. 
Observed N. to Mass., W. to Kan., and probably occurs across to the Pacific. Eggs from New 
Jersey are altogether diff'erent from those of the sora, or the yellow crake, being creamy- 
white, sprinkled all over with fine dots of rich, bright reddish-brown, and with a few spots of 
some little size at the great end ; most like the more finely- speckled examples of the eggs of 
the large Balli ; dimensions 1.05 X 0.80. 
682. P. j. coturni'culus. (Lat. dim. of co^M?-ma:, a quail.) Farrallone Black Crake. Like 
the last; rather smaller, the wing 2.50; more uniform in color, the back without white specks. 
Farrallone Islands, coast of California. 
273. CREX. (Or. Kpe'l, krex, Lat. crex, a crake ; refen-ing to the creaking notes.) Land Rails. 
General character of Porzana. Wings much longer, folding nearly to end of tail. Tarsus 
relatively shorter. Plumage above streaky, but not spotty. 
