56 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



by small tidal creeks. It is evidently rare here, for Mr. Frazar shot only 

 two specimens, and saw or heard less than half a dozen in all. 



"Rails were heard in mangrove swamp on Santa Margarita Island, Mag- 

 dalena Island, and for one hundred and twenty miles up the estero. They were 

 clapper rails, but whether B. heldingi I cannot say " (Bryant). 



On the basis of this scanty evidence it is impossible to do more than specu- 

 late concerning the habits and distribution of Belding's Eail. The bird is 

 apparently confined to the southern half of the Peninsula, for on the northwest 

 coast (San Quintin Bay) its place is taken by the California species, Rallus 

 obsoletus. R. heldingi is probably resident wherever found, but as yet even this 

 cannot be positively asserted. 



Rallus virginianus Linn. 

 Virginia Rail. 



Mr. Frazar found the Virginia Rail only at San Jos^ del Cabo, where he 

 killed a specimen on October 24 and another on November 4. He is very sure 

 that he saw three others, the first on October 3, the second on October 6, and 

 the third on November 4. The bird has not been previously reported from the 

 Cape Region, but " Mr. Anthony has taken it at San Quintin in winter." ^ 



It is abundant in the winter months in different parts of Mexico, and it has 

 been obtained as far south as Guatemala. In California it is said to occur at 

 all seasons of the year, and it may be resident, locally, in Lower California, 

 also. 



Porzana Carolina (Linn.). 



SoRA. Carolina Rail. 



Porzana Carolina Belding, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., V. 1883, 547 (San Jose del Cabo); 

 VL 1883, 351 (La Paz and s.). Bryant, Proc. CaUf. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., II. 

 1889, 270 (San Jose del Cabo ; La Paz). 



Mr. Belding, in his list of birds observed in the " vicinity of La Paz and 

 southward" between December 15, 1882, and March 23, 1883, mentions the 

 Sora as " rarely seen," and in a paper relating to his experience of the preced- 

 ing year he also refers to it incidentally, as one of the birds found between 

 April 1 and May 17 in the marsh at San Jose del Cabo. These allusions, al- 

 though vague and unsatisfactory, indicate that at least a few Soras pass the 

 winter in the Cape Region, and that others occur tliere rather late in the spring. 

 Mr. Frazar's experience unfortunately furnishes nothing bearing directly on 

 these points, for he met with the Sora only in autumn, at San Jos^ del Cabo. 

 It was very numerous there during the latter half of September and first ten 

 days of October, after which only a few stragglers were noted, the last on Oc- 



1 Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., II. 1889, 270. 



