WADING BIRDS 
RAILS, GALLINULES and COOTS. Family RALLID^E 
Members of this family are almost exclusively frequenters of marshes, 
where they lead a shy, retiring life and are more often heard than seen. 
208. King Rail. Rallus elegans. 
Range.- — Fresh water marshes of eastern United States from New England 
and the Dakotas, southward. Very abundant on the South Atlantic coast, in 
the inland marshes. 
This is one of the largest of the Rails, (17 
inches in length) and may be known by the 
richness of its plumage, the breast and wing 
coverts being a rich cinnamon color. It is 
almost exclusively a fresh water species and is 
very rarely found around a salt water marsh. 
Its nest is built on the ground, in a tuft of grass 
and weeds woven about the upright stalks. 
They lay from five to twelve eggs having a 
cream colored ground, sparingly speckled with 
brown and lilac. Size 1.60 x 1,20. Data. — Clark 
County, Missouri, June 6, 1893. 10 eggs. Nest 
composed of reed stalks; a slightly concave mass 8 inches across, and only 
two inches above the water, in a clump of reeds. Collector, Ed. S. Currier. 
Cream color. 
20Q. Belding’s Rail. Rallus bWdingi. 
Range. — Lower California and the islands in the Gulf. 
This is a locally confined species, very similar to the preceding but darker 
and with the flank bars narrower. Its nesting or eggs will not differ from those 
of the King Rail. 
210. California Clapper Rail. Rallus obsoletus. 
Range. — Salt marshes of the Pacific coast of the United States. 
This species is like a dull colored King Rail, 
with reference to the markings of the back, or 
a bright colored Clapper Rail, as it has a cinna- 
mon colored breast. It is an abundant species 
in nearly all the salt marshes along the coast, 
They make (heir nests on the higher parts of 
the marsh, where it is comparatively dry, build- 
ing them of grass and strips of rushes. They 
lay from four to nine eggs of a light buff color, 
boldly spotted with brown, and with fainter 
markings of lilac. Size 1.75 x 1.25. Data.- — - 
Palo Alto, Cal., May 1, 1899. Nest of marsh 
grass under a small bush on bank of slough. 
Light buff. Collector, Ernest Adams. 
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