d masses of vines a few feet above the ground or water.
They lay from three to eight eggs having a ground color of buff or
grayish white and blotched with light brown. Their coloration is very
similar to those of the Cranes. Size 2.30 x 1.70. They nest in April and
May.

[Illustration 131: Sandhill Crane. Limpkin.]
[Illustration: Buffy white.]
[Illustration: right hand margin.]

Page 130

[Illustration 132: Walter Raine.
NEST AND EGGS OF LITTLE BROWN CRANE.]

Page 131

RAILS, GALLINULES and COOTS. Family RALLIDAE

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.

209. BELDING'S RAIL. _Rallus beldingi._

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
cinnamon colored breast. It is an abundant species in nearly all the
salt marshes along the coast. They make their nests on the higher parts
of the marsh, where it is comparatively dry, building 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. S