o 



66 ALECTORIDES. 



to that of this species. In Wilson's time it was known as the " Fresh-water Mud- 

 hen/' because it frequented only those parts of the salt-marsh where fresh-water 

 springs rose through the bogs in the salt-marshes. In such places these birds build 

 their nests ; and one of these, wliicln was seen by him, is described as being placed in 

 the bottom of a tuft of grass in tlie midst of an almost impenetrable quagmire, and as 

 composed altogether of old wet grass and rushes. The eggs had been floated out of 

 the nest by an extraordinarily high tide, and lay scattered about. The female still 

 lingered about the S})ot, and suffered herself to be taken by hand, and during the few 

 liours she was detained laid an egg exactly like the others. Wilson describes the 

 egg as being shaped like that of the Domestic Hen, and as measuring 1.20 inches in 

 length by less than half an inch in breadth; it is of a dirty Avhite or pale cream- 

 color, sprinkled with specks of reddish and pale purple, most numerous near the great 

 end. This bird was supposed to begin to lay early in May, and to raise two broods 

 in a season, as in the month of Jvly jVIr. Ord brought to Wilson several young only a 

 few daj's old, which had been caught on the borders of the Delaware. The parents had 

 shown great solicitude for their safety. The young birds were covered with fine down, 

 and were wholly black, except a white spot on the bill. They had a short piping 

 note. Owing to its secretive habits, this bird can rarely be seen. It stands and runs 

 with its tail erect, which it jerks whenever it moves ; it flies only to a short distance, 

 with its legs hanging down. The moment it alights it runs off with great speed. 



ISTuttall, who heard the notes of the male of this species on the Charles Eiver 

 marshes, describes it as a guttural croaking call, like the noise of a watchman's rattle, 

 sounding like cut-a-cut-tee-ah. The young have a slender cry of i^ieejj-j^eep ; and the 

 female, when startled, utters a sharp squeaking scream, which seems much nearer 

 than it really is, and sounds like keek-keek-kek. 



Audubon states that these birds winter in Lower Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, and 

 the Carolinas, remaining in the Western States later in the fall than farther east ; but 

 a large proportion retire after the first severe frosts. He met with them on the St. 

 John's River, in Xew Brunswick — where, however, they are very rare ; and he also 

 remarks that he found them breeding in March near New Orleans ; in Kentucky in 

 April ; and a little later near Vincennes, in Illinois. 



Wilson evidently makes a mistake in regard to the breadth of the egg of this spe- 

 cies, meaning doubtless an inch, and not half an inch. An egg (jSTo. 210) in my 

 collection, from Calumet marshes, Illinois, identified by Mr, Robert Kennicott, 

 measures 1.28 inches in length by .96 of an inch in breadth ; and two (No. 1271) 

 measure each 1.30 inches by exactly 1 inch in breadth. The ground-color in these 

 is a creamy white. The markings are generally very much scattered, except about 

 the larger end, where they are crowded together, but nowhere confluent ; these mark- 

 ings are small blotches of a bright brownish red, and there are also slightly larger 

 and fainter ones of a purplish lilac. The markings vary in size in the different eggs. 

 In shape the egg is a rounded oval, one end much more tapering than the other. The 

 usual number of its eggs is nine, never more than this, and very rarely less. 



Genus PORZANA, Vieillot. 



Porzana, Vieill. Analyse, 1816, 61 tj^pe, Rallus porzana, Linn. —Cass, in Bau'd's B. N. Am. 



1858, 748. 

 Ortygometra, Leach, Syst. Cat. 1816, 34. —Gray, Gen. B. IIL 1846, 593 (type, Eallus jmrzana, 



Linn.). 

 Creciscm, Caban. Jour, fur Orn. 1856, 428 (type, Rallus jamaicensis, Gmel.). 

 Coturnicops, Bonap. " Compt. Ileud. XLIIL 1856, 599" (ty^e, Fulica noveboracensis, Gmel.). 



