This strange bird is the only member of its family found in the United States. It may be likened to a large Rail or a small Crane, being apparently, a connecting link between the two. It is about two feet in length, and the plumage is mottled brownish and white. It lives in the marshes, from whence, until late at night, emanate its strange cries, which are likened to those of a child in distress. They nest in the most impenetrable parts of swamps, building their nests of rushes, grass and weeds, in tangled masses of vines a few feet above the ground or water. They lay from three to eight eggs having a ground color of buff or grayish white and blotched with light brown. Their coloration is very similar to those of the Cranes. Size 2.30 x 1.70. They nest in April and May. [Illustration 131: Sandhill Crane. Limpkin.] [Illustration: Buffy white.] [Illustration: right hand margin.] Page 130 [Illustration 132: Walter Raine. NEST AND EGGS OF LITTLE BROWN CRANE.] Page 131 RAILS, GALLINULES and COOTS. Family RALLIDÆ Members of this family are almost exclusively frequenters of marshes, where they lead a shy, retiring life and are more often heard than seen. 208. KING RAIL. _Rallus elegans._ Range.--Fresh water marshes of eastern United States from New England and the Dakotas, southward. Very abundant on the South Atlantic coast, in the inland marshes. This is one of the largest of the Rails, (17 inches in length) and may be known by the richness of its plumage, the breast and wing coverts being a rich cinnamon color. It is almost exclusively a fresh water species and is very rarely found around a salt water marsh. Its nest is built on the ground, in a tuft of grass and weeds woven about the upright stalks. They lay from five to twelve eggs having a cream colored ground, sparingly speckled with brown and lilac. Size 1.60 × 1.20. Data.--Clark County, Missouri, June 6, 1893. 10 eggs. Nest composed of reed stalks; a slightly concave mass 8 inches across, and only two inches above the water, in a clump of reeds. Collector, Ed. S. Currier. 209. BELDING'S RAIL. _Rallus beldingi._ Range.--Lower California and the islands in the Gulf. This is a locally confined species, very similar to the preceding but darker and with the flank bars narrower. Its nesting or eggs will not differ from those of the King Rail. 210. CALIFORNIA CLAPPER RAIL. _Rallus obsoletus._ Range.--Salt marshes of the Pacific coast of the United States.