RALLINiE. ORTYGOMETRA. 
213 
length, slender, extremely compressed, tapering to a fine 
point. Plumage rather stiff, but blended ; feathers of the 
forehead with the shaft enlarged. Wings short and broad, 
somewhat convex, the second quill longest. Tail extremely 
short, much rounded, of twelve weak feathers. Digestive 
organs as in Galhnula, 
308. 1. Ortygometra Carolinus, Linn. Carolina Crake- 
Gallinule. — Sora Rail. 
Plate CCXXXIIL Male, Female, and Young. 
Upper parts olive-brown, the feathers brownish-black in the centre, 
those on the back with two marginal lines of white ; a broad band 
surrounding the base of the bill, the central part of the crown, the 
chin, and the middle of the fore neck in its whole length, brownish- 
black ,' a band over the eye, cheeks, and sides of neck ash-grey ; mid- 
dle of breast and abdomen greyish-white ; sides olivaceous, barred 
with brownish-black and white ; lower tail-coverts chiefly white, the 
feathers over them reddish-yellow. Female similar, but duller. Young 
like the female, but without black on the head or throat. 
Male, 9|, 14. 
Passes across the United States, both by the interior and along the 
coast. Some breed in New Jersey. Rarely seen east of Massachu- 
setts. Extremely abundant in autumn on the Delaware, and other 
streams or lakes furnished with wild oats. A few reside in Florida 
and Louisiana in winter. 
Rail, Rallus carolinus, WiLS. Amer. Om. v. vi. p. 24. 
Rallus carolinus, Bonap. Syn. p. 334. 
Carolina Rail, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 208. 
Sora Rail, Rallus carolinus, Aun. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 251 ; v. v. p. 572. 
309. 2. Ortygometra Noveboracensis, Lath. Yellow-breast- 
ed Crake-Gallinule. — Yellow-breasted Rail. 
Upper parts and sides brownish-black, longitudinally streaked with 
yellow, and transversely barred with white ; a broad band of reddish- 
yellow over the eye ; loral space and a short band behind the eye 
blackish-brown, fore part of neck and breast light reddish-yellow, each 
feather terminally margined with brown ; axillaries, lower wing-coverts, 
and middle of abdomen, white ; lower tail-coverts brownish-red, with 
faint whitish dots. 
Male, 7 h 12|. 
Common in Lower Louisiana and Florida, where it breeds. Strag- 
glers go as far as Hudson’s Bay. Occasionally met with far in the in- 
terior, Prefers fresh water. 
