206 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



plain brownish-black ; hill, flesh color, dusky on ridge 

 and tip ; legs, dark flesh color : iris, reddish-brown. 

 Immature: Darker above than adults: under parts, 

 blackish. Downy YouNc: Sooty black with yellowish bill. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In a tuft of grass or reeds 

 in meadows; rather compactly constructed (for a Rail) 

 of dry reeds. .Eggs: 6 to 12, cream or buffy, thinly 

 spotted with chestnut or lavender. 



Distribution. — North .America : breeds from British 



Columbia, southern Saskatchewan, southern Keewatin, 

 Ontario, .southern Quebec, and New Brunswick south 

 to southern California, Utah, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, 

 New Jersey, and eastern North Carolina, and in Toluca 

 valley, Mexico; winters from Oregon. Utah, and Colo- 

 rado to Lower California and Guatemala, also in the 

 lower Mississippi States, and from North Carolina 

 (casually Massachusetts) to Florida; occurs casually 

 nortli to northern Quebec and Newfoundland. 



In general habits I have not noticed any very 

 di.stinctive difference between the Virginia Rail 

 and the Sora, unless it be that birds of the former 

 species are more inchned to keep by themselves 

 in solitude or in pairs, whereas a good many 



photographs. Despite all my care I found it next 

 to impossible to see the bird on the nest before 

 pulling the thread attached to the shutter. So I 

 laid my line of communication further off and 

 pulled at a venture, after waiting a reasonable 



VIRGINIA RAIL 

 It hides away in marshes and is little known 



Cuurtcsy ut S. A. Lottridgu 



Soras may be found, even during breeding time, 

 in the same bog. The nesting is entirely similar. 

 With neither species, as a rule, can one flush the 

 sitting bird directly from the nest, for it slips off 

 upon hearing the approach. In a few cases, 

 where I came up very silently, I have seen them 

 slip off through the .grass, especially when I 

 approached with caution nests already located. 



On one occasion, by concealing my camera in 

 a bower of rushes near a nest, I secured some 



time. In each case except one I secured my 

 subject. 



The young, as with other kinds, are tiny black 

 creatures, which have a most amazing way of 

 disappearing in a bog. Seeing the sprite in the 

 grass, we may do our best to make a grab, but 

 the reward is likely to be only a handful of grass 

 and black slime. 



Though it is hard to see the nesting bird for 

 identification, the eggs of both the \'irginia Rail 



