210 GAME BIRDS. WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



SORA {Porzana Carolina). 

 Common or local names : Rail-bird; Meadow Chicken; Chicken-bill; Carolina Rail. 



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Length. — 8 to 9 inches; bill .75. 



Adult. — Top of head and back of neck olive brown ; a blackish stripe 

 through the center of crown; back, wings and tail olive brown, streaked 

 with black and a little white; sides of head and neck, line over eye, 

 and breast ash gray; forehead, region about base of bill and a streak 

 down middle of throat and breast black; lower belly white; flanks 

 brown and grayish, barred with white and blackish; bill short, yellow. 



Young. — Similar, but no black about bill or on throat, which is whitish; 

 breast washed with cinnamon; darker above than adult. 



Field Marks. — Nearly as large as Bob-white, but slimmer; short yellow 

 bill distinguishes it from long-billed Virginia Rail. 



Notes. — Kuk or peep; song, ker-wee; and a high, rolling whinny (Chap- 

 man). Ca-weep-eep, ca-weep-eep-eep-ip-ip-ip (Hatch). Also a variety 

 of other notes. 



Nest. — Of grasses, on ground in marshes. 



Eggs. — Eight to fifteen, buffy white or buff, sparsely spotted and speckled 

 with brown and purplish gray, 1.24 by .90. 



Season. — Common to abundant migrant, and less common local summer 

 resident; early April to early November. 



Range. — North America. Breeds from central British Columbia, southern 

 Mackenzie, central Keewatin and Gulf of St. Lawrence south to south- 

 ern California, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois and New Jersey; 

 winters from northern California, Illinois and South Carolina through 

 the West Indies and Central America to Venezuela and Peru; acci- 

 dental in Bermuda, Greenland and England. 



