Medium-sized crake with dense whitish spotting and speckling on the neck and breast. Also note greenish legs and short yellow bill with a reddish base. Breeds in freshwater marshes and wet meadows with dense vegetation cover, but migrants and wintering birds may also be found in ephemeral wetlands and brackish marshes. Retiring and rarely seen, but sometimes comes out at muddy edges, mainly early and late in the day. Song is a series of repeated “huit, huit, huit” notes.