428 
KING RAIL 
er saw one succeed in doing anything more than to cause the Rail to scream loudly and 
beat a vigorous retreat through the high sheltering grass. This species breeds in the drier 
portions of the marshes, near the islands, depositing their eggs in March and April. They 
are partly migratory, those which occur as far north as New York and New Jersey, re¬ 
treating south in winter. 
BALLUS ELEGANS. 
King Bail. 
Rallies elegans Aud., Orn. Biog., Ill; 1835, 27. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Cn. Form, robust. Size, large. Tongue, long, thin, and slender, gradually tapering toward tip which is acute¬ 
ly pointed. 
Color. Adult. Greenish-brown above, streaked with darker. Upper wing coverts, deep chestnut-red. Sides of 
head, bluish-ash. Beneath, chestnut-red, with the sides, flanks, and under wing and tail coverts, brown, banded with 
white. Throat and under eyelid, also white. Young. Similar to the adult, but darker above and paler below. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Readily known by the pale chestnut-red markings below, and absence of any bluish-ash on either surface. Distribu¬ 
ted, in summer, throughout the inland marshes, from New York, southward. Winters in the South. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of specimens from the South. Length, 18-00; stretch, 24 - 50; wing, 6 - 35; tail, 3’25; bill, 250; 
tarsus, 2-45. Longest specimen, 19‘00; greatest extent of wing, 25 -00; longest wing, 6'75; tail, 3-50; bill, 3 00; tarsus, 2 75. 
Shortest specimen, 1700; smallest extent of wing, 2400; shortest wing, 6-00; tail, 3'00; bill, 200; tarsus, 2 - 25. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed on the ground in marshy places, composed of grass, weeds, etc. Eggs, from eight to ten in number, 
oval in form, bluish-white or creamy in color, dotted and spotted sparcely with reddish-brown and lilac Dimensions from 
1-15x1-55 to 1-25x1-75. 
HABITS. 
Although the King Rails are almost exclusively fresh water birds, I have shot them 
on the salt marshes about Cedar Keys, in company with the Clapper Rails. Both species 
are confined to the Middle and Southern Sections but are occasionally taken in Massachu¬ 
setts, although as yet, I believe, have never been found breeding so far north. The King 
Rails evidently do not differ in habit from the preceding species, being noisy birds and part¬ 
ly nocturnal. They are migrator}', passing southward with the first frosts, some spending 
the winter in Florida. 
BALLUS VXBGmiANTUS. 
Virginia Rail. 
Rallus Virginianus Linn., Syst. Nat., I; 1766, 263. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Ch. Form, rather slender. Size, small. Tongue, long, thin slender, and tapering gradually toward tip which 
is pointed. 
Color. Adult. Above, dark-brown, with all the feathers, excepting primaries, edged with brownish-yellow. Upper 
wing coverts, deep chestnut-red. Sides of head, bluish. Line from bill to point over eye, and throat, creamy-white. Un¬ 
der portions, chestnut-red, with flanks and under wing and tail coverts, black, banded with white. Legs, iris, and bill, 
brown with the latter reddish-orange at base of lower mandible. Young. Similar but much darker, the earlier stages be¬ 
ing nearly black. Nestlings. Are covered with black down glossed with green and the bill is white, with the base of low¬ 
er mandible, line along its side joining a band across bill, black. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Readily known by the small size, long, curved bill, and colors as described. Distributed, in summer, from Canada to 
Florida. Winters in the South. 
