96 Birds of Colorado 



a dead bird of this species near the torrainal moraine of the Arapahoe 

 glacier in Boulder co., at an elevation of about 12,500 feet. This was 

 probably an accidental occurrence. 



Habits. — This little Rail is very abundant in the swamps 

 of the Atlantic states, where large numbers are killed 

 by gunners for the restaurants, and it is known as the 

 " Ortolan." In their habits they are not very different 

 from the Virginia Rail, though more often found in 

 meadow-lands and on cultivated ground. 



A set of seven eggs taken at Greeley on June 1st, 

 1903, by I. C. Hall and presented by him to the Colorado 

 College Museum, are quite distinct from those of the 

 Virginia Rail. They are drab with a few large blotches 

 and round spots of purplish and reddish-brown ; in 

 shape they are rather more pointed and they average 

 1*25 X '91. Gale notes that fresh eggs are found about 

 May 15th, at 5,500 feet, and about July 5th, at 10,000 

 feet. A nest with fourteen eggs, collected by Bragg 

 north-east of Boulder, Juno 7th, 1904, is in the 

 University of Colorado Museum. 



Genus CRECISCUS. 



Hardly differing from Porzatia, except that the bill is more slender 

 and acute, and that the nostrils are nearer the base of the bill than 

 the tip. 



Two closely allied species are recognized in the last supplement 

 of the A.O.U. Checklist, from eastern and western North America 

 respectively. 



Black Rail. Creciscus jamaicen&is. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 216— Colorado Record— Cooke 97, p. 158. 



Description. — Adult — Above blackish, nape and shoulders dark 

 reddish-brown, back and wings spotted with white ; below slaty-grey, 

 darker and cross-barred with white on the abdomen and under wing- 

 coverts ; iris red, bill black, feet greenish. Length 5 ; wing 2-95 ; tail 

 1 -35 ; culmen -53 ; tarsus -89. 



Young birds are paler below, especially on the throat, and the crown 

 is brownish rather than blackish. 



