Length to end of tail 14 1/2 inches, to end of wings 16 1/2, to end of claws 21 3/4; extent of wings 27; wing from flexure 9; tail 2 10/12; bill along the ridge 2 8/12, along the edge of lower mandible 2 11/12; bare part of tibia 3 1/4; tarsus 4 2 1/2/12; middle toe 1 1/2, its claw 3/12. Weight 6 1/4 oz.
The Female is smaller than the male but otherwise similar.
Length to end of tail 14 inches, to end of wings 15 1/4, to end of claws 20; extent of wings 25 3/4. Weight 5 oz.
The median ridge of the anterior part of the roof of the mouth is furnished with a few short papillæ. The tongue is 1 inch 2 twelfths long, slender, tapering, emarginate and papillate at the base. The œsophagus is 7 inches long, with an average diameter of 4 twelfths; the proventriculus 9 twelfths long, and 6 twelfths in diameter. The stomach is elliptical, 1 inch in length, 8 1/2 twelfths in breadth; its lateral muscles of moderate strength, the right being 4 twelfths thick; the inner coat or epithelium dense, longitudinally rugous, and of a brownish-red colour. The intestine is 20 inches long, its diameter varying from 3 to 1 1/2 twelfths. The cœca are 1 1/2 inch long, 1/12 in diameter at the base, 2 twelfths towards the end, which is blunt.
The trachea is 5 1/4 inches long, rather wide, its diameter at the upper part 3 twelfths, gradually diminishing to 1 1/2 twelfth; the rings 120, unossified, excepting a few at the lower part. The contractor muscles are feeble; the sterno-tracheal slender. The bronchi are very short, with about 10 half rings.
The Prince of Musignano has introduced into his lately published list a species of this genus, under the name of Himantopus Mexicanus. I have received from Florida two skins, which from their large size might at first sight be thought to differ from the common kind; but after closely comparing them with my other specimens, I can find no difference indicative of a distinction of species. Nor have I ever met with individuals in North America of any other species than that above described.
YELLOW-BREASTED RAIL.
Rallus Noveboracensis, Bonap.
PLATE CCCXXIX. Male.
The Prince of Musignano, who purchased one of these birds in the New York market, in February 1826, gave a figure of it, and considered it as an arctic species. This opinion, however, is incorrect, for the Yellow-breasted Rail is a constant resident in the Peninsula of the Floridas, as well as in the lower parts of Louisiana, where I have found it at all seasons. That a few straggling individuals should proceed northwards, advancing even to pretty high latitudes, is not much to be wondered at, as we have a similar case in the Common Gallinule. But at the season mentioned the individual referred to must have been forced thither by a storm, as no Rails of any kind are found in that part of the country in winter.
In the neighbourhood of New Orleans, this species is found in all the deserted savannahs, covered with thick long grass, and pools of shallow water. There you hear its sharp and curious notes many times in the course of the day, just as you hear those of Rallus crepitans near the sea-shore, more especially after the report of a gun, when they are louder and more quickly repeated. These sounds come on the ear so as to induce you to believe that the bird is near; but whether this be the case or not is not easily determined, for when you move towards a spot in which you suppose it to be, the sounds recede at your approach, and you may think yourself fortunate if, after half an hour of search, you discover one on wing. Indeed, if we have a bird in America approaching in its habits the Corn Crake of Europe, it is the Yellow-breasted Rail; and were I disposed to systematize, I should consider it as a connecting link between land and water birds, as in some of its habits it also resembles the European Quail, a bird as fond at times of damp meadows bordering rivers as this species is wont to be, when it seeks for a place of safety in which to form its nest and rear its young.