RAILS, GALLINULES, AND COOTS 



20: 



and the Sora are distinct and characteristic. 

 Though of the same size, those of the former are 

 hghter in ground color, being yellowish-white, 

 whereas those of the Sora are a more decided 

 buff in hue. The birds, too, are distinct, the ."^ora 

 having a little short bill, while the subject of our 

 sketch has quite a long bill and a redder shade of 

 plumage. 



This bird is one of the coterie, always to be 

 associated together, which are found in the bogs 

 and meadows — \'irginia Rail, Sora, Red-winged 

 Blackbird, both Marsh Wrens, Bittern and Least 

 Bittern, sometimes Swamp Sparrow, and, in the 

 West, the Coot and Yellow-headed ESlackbird, 

 as well as Redhead, Ruddy Duck, Canvas-back, 

 and others. It is a most interesting fraternity, 

 and the fascination of their company has made 

 and keeps me a regular "bog-trotter." 



Herbert K. Job. 



Photo by H. K. J 



!_'■ urtui> "i Uutir.g Pub. Ct. 



VIRGINIA RAIL ON NEST 



SORA 

 Porzana Carolina tLiiiihcits) 



A. O. U, Number 214 



Other Names. — Carolina Rail ; Common Rail ; Soree ; 

 Meadow Chicken ; Carolina Crake ; Little American 

 Water Hen : Chicken-billed Rail : Chicken-bill : Rail- 

 bird : Ortolan ; Mud Hen. 



General Description. — Length. 9 inches. Color 

 above, olive-brown; below, gray. Bill short and stoul; 

 forehead entirely feathered down to base of bill. 



Color. — Adults: Forehead, lores, face, cliin, and 

 throat (narrowly), black; crown, neck, and upper parts, 

 including tail, olivc-brozcn : back with dark-brown 

 traverse bars and streaked narrowly with white ; line 

 over eye, sides of head, and under farts, pure i/ray. 

 more olive on sides of body where barred with white 

 transversely ; abdomen barred with white ; tail-coverts, 

 whitish, tinged with rufous; bill, yellow, with extreme 

 tip black; feet, light yellowish-green; iris, carmine. 



.'^LC t olor riate 2t> 



Imm.\ture: Xo black on foreparts: throat and abdo- 

 men, whitish; neck and breast, icaslied ?ci7/i cinnamon. 

 DowNV YocNC. : Glossy black, with a tuft of orange- 

 colored bristly feathers on the breast. 



Nest and Eggs. — \est : On the ground in meadows ; 

 a carelessly constructed affair of grass and weeds. 

 Ei,r,s : 7 to 13. more rarely 16, pronounced drab, spotted 

 with cliestnnt and lavender over entire surface. 



Distribution, — North America ; breeds from central 

 British Columbia, southern Mackenzie, central Keewa- 

 tin, and Gulf of St. Lawrence south to southern Cali- 

 fornia, L'tah, 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 ; accidental in Ber- 

 muda, Greenland, and England. 



The Soras are curious birds, which remind one of 

 very tiny dark-colored bantam hens. They spend 

 their lives mainly in slipping through the tangles 

 of the fresh-water bogs, in the universal search 

 for something to eat. Success in their mission 

 is demonstrated by the fact that, though slenderly 

 built, supposedly " thin as a rail,'' by autumn 

 they are cjuite generally loaded with fat. From 

 their arrival in May until their final departure 

 south in October they live in close retirement and 

 are seldom seen. But throw a stone into one of 

 these seemingly tenantless bogs, and it is surpris- 

 ing what a chorus of yells and cackling sounds 

 may arise, as though its coverts sheltered a 

 sizable poultry farm. 

 Vol. I — 15 



During my boyhood I had constant opportunity 

 to study Soras and \'irginia Rails in an almost 

 bottomless " cat-tail " bog, in the suburbs of 

 Boston, Mass., on the edge of the town of Brook- 

 line, now groomed up into a fine city park and 

 lake. It was my delight to flounder through it 

 with boy companions, and find many sorts of 

 nests. I shall never forget how one day a boy 

 tried a short cut to a nest, contrary to my advice, 

 got in all over, and finally, in tears, floundered 

 ashore, swimming through black ooze of the 

 consistency of New Orleans molasses. His re- 

 turn home through the city was a constant ova- 

 tion, as may be imagined. 



Here I found many a .Sora's nest, including one 



