RALLIN^. GALLINULA. 
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winter entirely pure white. In summer, the head and neck barred with 
blackish-brown and brownish-white ; upper parts blackish-brown, 
barred with reddish-yellow ; breast, belly, and sides pale reddish-yel- 
low, broadly barred with blackish-brown ; tail white. 
Tetrao (Lagopus) leucurus. White-tailed Grovise, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. 
V. ii. p. 356. 
White-tailed Grouse, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 612. 
White-tailed Grouse, Tetrao leucurus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. v. p. 200. 
FAMILY XXXIIL RALLIN2E. RAILS. 
Bill moderately stout, or slender, short or elongated, com- 
pressed, with the point narrow, but obtuse. Head small, 
oblong, compressed ; neck of moderate length ; body large, 
much compressed. Feet large ; tibia bare at the lower 
part; tarsus stout, compressed, with very broad anterior 
scutella ; toes very long, scutellate, marginate ; hind toe 
rather short. Claws long, little arched, compressed, acute. 
Plumage blended, but stiffish. Wings short, convex, round- 
ed, tail very short, rounded. Tongue slender, channelled 
above, tapering to a bristly point ; oesophagus long, rather 
narrow ; proventriculus bulbiform ; stomach roundish, com- 
pressed, very muscular, with the lateral and inferior muscles 
prominent, the epithelium dense, with two flattish grinding 
surfaces ; intestine long, of moderate width ; coeca long, 
narrowed toward the base ; cloaca globular. Trachea simple, 
flattened, with a pair of slender inferior laryngeal muscles. 
Nest bulky, and rudely constructed, on the ground, or sup- 
ported by grass, or on trees. Eggs numerous, oblong. 
Young covered with stiffish black down. 
GENUS I. GALLINULA, Briss. GALLINULE. 
Bill as long as the head, nearly straight, stout, deep, com- 
pressed, tapering ; upper mandible with a soft ovate or 
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