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EE PORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 
FAMILY GRUIDiE.—THE CRANES. 
Only one species has been reported from this district. 
Whooping Ckane —(Gras americana). 
A very large white crane, with dull-red head and black wing quills. The red 
portion, which consists of the top and side of the head and a little along the 
side of the throat, is free from feathers but is covered by a growth of black 
Breeds interior North America, northward to Saskatchewan. Very rare 
straggler in former years. Turnbull states that he saw three off the inlet at 
Beesley’s Point, N. J., in 1857. 
FAMILY RALLIDiE.—TILE RAILS AND COOTS. 
Ten species occur in New Jersey. Only three, however, are of 
very common occurrence, the clapper rail and ^ iiginia tab as 
summer residents and the sora as a transient. 
King Rail—( Rallus elegans). 
A large, brightly-colored, long-billed, cinnamon-redbreasted, olive-brown to 
black-backed, distinctly blotched, fresh-water, marsh rail with sides more or 
less barred with black and white. The wing coverts are brownish-red. 
Breeds in fresh-water marshes, northward to Middle States, casually to 
Wisconsin. Winters in southern United States. 
Summer resident on the fresh-water marshes, but not very common. 
Clapper Rail—( Rallus crepitans). 
A large, pale-colored, olive-gray, salt-marsh rail, with yellowish-brown breast, 
whitish throat, and more or less white-barred belly and sides (mud hen). 
Breeds in Atlantic coast marshes, northward to Long Island, casually to 
Massachusetts. Winters on south Atlantic coast, casually to New Jersey. 
Virginia Rail—( Rallus virginianas). 
A small, common, brightly-colored, short-tailed, long-billed, cinnamon¬ 
breasted, brown-backed, distinctly marked rail of both fresh and salt marshes. 
The sides are somewhat barred with black and white, the wing coverts brownish- 
red, belly like the breast and the throat white. The back proper has very dark 
centers to the feathers. The common evening and morning note of this bird is 
a grunting sound much like that of a hungry pig. 
Breeds in whole of North America to Hudson bay. Winters, southward to 
Guatemala and Cuba. 
Summer resident in fresh marshes and in hogs and swamps along the coast, 
though apparently not in the true salt marshes except in migrations. 
