2fi R E D - T H R O A T E D DIVER.
Bill bluish-black. Iris deep bright red. Feet brownish-black, the
anterior edge of the tarsus, the upper surface of the toes, the claws, and
part of the webs, pale livid flesh-colour. Fore part and sides of the head,
throat, and sides of the neck, of a fine bluish-grey ; fore part of the neck
rich brownish-red; hind part of the head and hind neck longitudinally
streaked, with greenish-black and pure white, each feather black in the
middle, with the sides white, the colours disposed in lines. The upper
surface brownish-black, tinged with green, more or less mottled with
white according to age, excepting the primary quills and the tail-feathers,
the latter of which are merely paler at the end. The whole under surface
pure white, excepting the feathers on the sides under the wings,
some of those about the vent, and the lower tail-coverts, which are greyish
brown, with white margins and tips.
Length to end of tail 25 <1- inches, to end of claws 27, extent of wings
4 3 ^ ; bill 2-^, gape 3 § ; tarsus 3, fourth toe and claw 3f ; wing from
flexure 11 f, tail 3. Weight 4 lb.
Adult Female in summer. Plate CCII. Fig. 3.
The female is precisely similar to the male in form and colouring, but
is considerably smaller.
Length to end of tail 25 inches, to end of claws 2 8 I
,
2 ; extent of wings
43. Weight 3 lb.
Male in winter immature. Plate CCII. Fig. 2.
In this state the principal differences are the following:—The fore
part of the neck, instead of being of a uniform rich brownish-red, is merely
mottled with that colour; all the feathers of the upper surface have
each two white spots towards the end; the tail-feathers are edged and terminated
with white ; the colouring in general is somewhat less pure and
deep, and the bill is of a much paler tint.
Young bird unfledged. Plate CCII. Fig. 4.
The young are at first covered with a dense elastic down of a greyish
black colour, tinged with brown. The bill is bluish-black, its basal edges
yellow; the iris reddish-brown.
( 27 )
THE GREAT R E D - B R E A S T E D RAIL, OR FRESHW
A T E R MARSH-HEN.
BALL us ELEGANS.
P L A T E CCIII. MALE AND YOUNG.
No doubt exists in my mind that WILSON considered this beautiful
bird as merely the adult of Rallus crepitans, the manners of which he described,
as studied at Great Egg Harbour in New Jersey, while he gave
in his works the figure and colouring of the present species. My friend
THOMAS NUTTALL has done the same, without, I apprehend, having seen
the two birds together. Always unwilling to find faults in so ardent a student
of nature as WILSON, I felt almost mortified when, after having, in
the company of my worthy and learned friend, the Reverend JOHN BACHMAN,
carefully examined the habits of both species, which, in form and
general appearance, are closely allied, I discovered the error which he had
in this instance committed. Independently of the great difference as to
size between the two species, there are circumstances connected with their
habits which mark them as distinct. The Rallus elegans is altogether a
fresh-water bird, while the R. crepitans never removes from the salt-water
marshes, that are met with along our eastern Atlantic coasts, from the
Jerseys to the Gulf of Mexico. Nay, the present species is found at considerable
distances inland, where it breeds and spends the whole year;
whereas the latter never goes farther from its maritime haunts than the
borders of the salt-marshes, and this merely on certain occasions, when
driven thither by the high risings of tides. The Fresh-water Mcrsh-hen,
besides, is confined to the Southern States, a few stragglers only having
been observed farther eastward than the State of Pennsylvania, and these
only in fresh-water meadows.
So long ago as the year 1810, on the 29th May, I caught one of these
birds, a female, at Henderson, in the State of Kentucky, when I made
the following memorandum respecting it:—" It is an excessively shy bird,
runs with great celerity, and when caught, cries like a common fowl."
It weighed eleven ounces avoirdupois; its total length was 20J inches,
and its alar extent 22.
This species constantly resides in the fresh-water marshes and ponds