. The American sportsman: containing hints to sportsmen, notes on shooting, and the habits of the game birds and wild fowl of America . CHAPTER XIV. GREAT RED-BREASTED RAIL. RALLUS AND DESCRIPTION. N his work on the birds of Long Island,Giraud thus describes this beautifulfowl:—Bill along the gap, two inchesand three-quarters; length of tarsi, twoinches; sides and forepart of neck andthe breast, bright orange-brown; iris,bright red. Total length of the spe-cimen before us, seventeen inches; wing,six and three-quarters. Adult, upperpart of head and hind-neck dull brown;from the
. The American sportsman: containing hints to sportsmen, notes on shooting, and the habits of the game birds and wild fowl of America . CHAPTER XIV. GREAT RED-BREASTED RAIL. RALLUS AND DESCRIPTION. N his work on the birds of Long Island,Giraud thus describes this beautifulfowl:—Bill along the gap, two inchesand three-quarters; length of tarsi, twoinches; sides and forepart of neck andthe breast, bright orange-brown; iris,bright red. Total length of the spe-cimen before us, seventeen inches; wing,six and three-quarters. Adult, upperpart of head and hind-neck dull brown;from the base of the upper mandible over the eye a dull whiteline terminating with brownish-orange; lower eyelids white, loralspace and a band behind the eye dusky; upper part of the body brownish-black; the feathers broadly margined with light olive- 235. 236 lewiss AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. brown; wing-coverts dull chestnut; primaries dark brown, innersecondaries and tail-feathers same as the back; throat white;forepart and sides of the neck, with the breast, bright orange-brown ; abdomen and sides of the body dark brown, faintly barredwith dark brown; lower tail-coverts white, with a black spot nearthe end; the middle feathers black, barred with white. The Rallus elegans is well known to the Delaware rail-shooters asthe king-rail. They frequent the fresh-water marshes of the inte-rior, and seem to feed upon similar food with the sora rails, as theyare generally found in the same localities. The red-breasted railis far more common in the South than it is to the eastward, beingseldom met with beyond the reedy shores of the river specimen before us is a very beautiful one, and was obtainedwhile shooting soras below Chester last season. The flesh of the king-rail is very analogous to that of the sora,perhaps not quite so delicate,
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Keywords: ., bookauthorle, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjecthunting
