354 
ALECTORIDES. 
pointed out in the above synopsis, the very conspicuous, sharply-defined, and broad black stripes 
above, upon an ochrey-brown or yellowish-olivaceous ground-color, combined with the cinnamon 
breast and dark flanks, being the prominent distinctive features. The chief variation in colors 
consists in the degree of ashiness on the side of the head (some examples being distinctly ashy, as 
in most specimens of R. longirostris crepitans), and in the precise shade of the ground-color of the 
upper parts (which, however, is never ashy). 
The only extralimital specimens we have seen are one from the City of Mexico, in the collec- 
tion of Mr. George N. Lawrence, and one from the Valley of Mexico in the National Museum. 
These are so different in many respects from tire common North American bird as to be entitled 
to at least sub-specific separation. Compared with true elegans, the distinctive characters of the 
Mexican race are as follows : — 
a. elegans. Flanks and sides dusky brownish, widely and distinctly barred with pure white. 
Wing, 5.90-6.80; culmen, 2.12-2.50 ; least depth of bill, ,27-.35 ; tarsus, 2.20-2.40 ; middle toe, 
1.80-2.10. Iiab. Fresh- water marshes of Eastern North America. 
13. tenuirostris. Flanks and sides reddish umber, narrowly and indistinctly barred with 
reddish white and dilute cinnamon ; breast and neck more deeply and uniformly cinnamon than 
in elegans. Wing, 5.90; culmen, 2.00-2.10; least depth of bill, .22; tarsus, 1.80-1.90; middle 
toe, 1.70. Hab. Mexico (Mazatlan and City of Mexico). 
The accompanying figure of the bill of tenuirostris is taken from the type specimen in Mr. 
Lawrence’s collection. 
The distinction between the present species and the more common Clapper Rail 
entirely escaped the notice of Wilson and Nuttall, although the former must unques- 
tionably have met with the elegans in the Delaware marshes — in his description of the 
crepitans apparently confounding the manners of the two species. The distinctness of 
elegans as a species and some of its peculiarities were first made known to the public 
by Mr. Audubon, his attention having been called to the subject by Dr. John Bach- 
man. Although Audubon speaks of having met with a single individual of this 
species in Kentucky, he seems to have regarded it as an exclusively southern species 
and as being confined to the fresh-water marshes of the Southern States, and not to 
have been aware how common it is in the low lands of all the Northwestern States, 
ranging even as far as Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. Even now much remains 
to be learned as to its general abundance in these States, the dates of its appearance 
and departure. 
Mr. Dresser found it pretty common in Southern Texas, on the Brazos and Colo- 
rado rivers, and also occasionally on Galveston Island. 
Giraud did not meet with any specimens of this Rail in the marshes of Long 
Island, but mentions the finding a single specimen, taken at Williamsburg, now in 
the cabinet of Mr. Lawrence ; and he regarded it as being extremely rare in that 
region. Mr. J. H. Batty, however, informs me that he has found stragglers of this 
species in all parts of Long Island, as well as in the meadows of New Jersey between 
Jersey City and Newark, where it breeds. He has also taken a single specimen near 
West Haven, Conn. 
