Bill much longer than the head, slender, compressed, very slightly decurved, high at the base; upper mandible with the dorsal line almost straight, until towards the end, where it is slightly curved, the ridge a little flattened at the base, and extending slightly on the forehead, convex toward the end, nasal sinus forming a groove extending to two-thirds, the sides nearly erect, the edges slightly inflected, the notches very slight, the tip rather obtuse; lower mandible with the angle very long and extremely narrow, the dorsal line almost straight, the sides erect and a little convex, the edges involute, the tip narrowed but obtuse. Nostrils lateral, subbasal, linear. Head, small, oblong, much compressed; neck long and slender; body slender, much compressed. Feet long; tibia, bare below; tarsus rather long, stout, compressed anteriorly covered with broad scutella; hind toe very small and tender, fourth little longer than second, anterior toes very long, scutellate, compressed. Claws of moderate length, arched, slender, much compressed, acute. Plumage rather stiff; feathers of the forehead with the shaft enlarged, and extended beyond the tip. Wings very short and broad; third quill longest. Tail very short, much rounded, of twelve feeble rounded feathers, scarcely longer than the coverts. 311. 1. Rallus elegans, Aud. Great Red-breasted Rail.--Fresh-water Marsh-Hen. Plate CCIII. Male and Young. Upper part of head and hind neck dull brown; a brownish-orange line over the eye; lower eyelid white; loral space and band behind the eye dusky; upper parts of the body streaked with brownish-black and light olive-brown, the two sides of each feather being of the latter colour; wing-coverts dull chestnut; most of the irregularly tipped with white primaries deep olive-brown; secondaries and tail-feathers like the back; sides and fore part of neck, with the breast, bright orange-brown; sides of the body and lower wing-coverts undulated with deep brown and greyish-white; tibial feathers pale greyish-brown, faintly barred with darker, as is the hind part of the abdomen; lower tail-coverts white, each with a blackish-brown spot near the end, those in the middle barred with black and white. Female and young similar, but with the tints duller. Iris bright red. _Male_, 19, 25. _Female_, 18, 24. From Texas to New Jersey, more common from Louisiana to North Carolina. Inland swamps and marshes. Once met with in Kentucky. Great Red-breasted Rail, Rallus elegans, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 27. 312. 2. Rallus crepitans, Gmel. Clapper Rail.--Salt-water Marsh-hen. Plate CCIV. Male and Female.