. The American sportsman : containing hints to sportsmen, notes on shooting, and the habits of game birds and wild fowl of America . CHAPTER XVI. GREAT RED-BREASTED RAIL. RALLUS ELEGANS. LOCALITY 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 and- the 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 game birds and wild fowl of America . CHAPTER XVI. GREAT RED-BREASTED RAIL. RALLUS ELEGANS. LOCALITY 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 and- the 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 bodybrownish-black; the feathers broadly margined with light olive- 281. 282 lewiss AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. broAvn; 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 K-allus 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 delicat
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjecthunting, bookyear1885
