296 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



has been raised whether this destructive bird may not have been a 

 rival and not the owner of the nest. 



Plumages. — [Author's note : The downy young Virginia rail is com- 

 pletely covered with long, thick, rather coarse, black down, glossed 

 bluish on the head and greenish on the back. It can be distinguished 

 from the young sora by the much longer bill, which is yellowish at the 

 base and tip and crossed by a broad black band in the middle; there 

 are also no orange bristles on the chin. 



The down is soon replaced by the juvenal plumage, early in July 

 or earlier, as soon as the young bird is fully grown. In this the head, 

 neck, and upper parts are mostly dull black, with brown edgings on 

 the back; the under parts, particularly on the breast and flanks, are 

 more or less dull black, in some mostly black, in others only 

 mottled with black ; the throat is white or grayish white ; the central 

 breast and belly are more or less mottled with white and sometimes, 

 particularly in males, suffused with pinkish buff; the wings are much 

 like those of the adult, but a httle duller. 



A partial and gradual molt of the contour plumage, beginning 

 sometimes as early as the middle of August and usually completed 

 in October or November, produces the first winter plumage which is 

 practically adult, I have been unable to recognize young birds after 

 this postjuvenal molt. 



Adults have a complete postnuptial molt, in July and August, and 

 probably a partial prenuptial molt in the spring. In fresh fall plu- 

 mage adults are rather darker and more richly colored than in spring.] 



Food. — With its long curved bill the Virginia rail probes the mud 

 and extracts many a fat earth worm and the larvae of insects. It 

 also eats slugs and snails, small fish, caterpillars, beetles, and other 

 insects, and it is said to eat occasionally the seeds of grasses. 



Alvin R. Cahn (1915) tried some interesting feeding experiments 

 on a Virginia rail that was captured when exhausted by an early 

 snowstorm in October in Madison, Wisconsin. The bird recovered 

 and became remarkably tame and developed an insatiable appetite, 

 but at the same time, showed great discrimination in its feeding 

 habits. These were strictly carnivorous. It refused to swallow rice 

 or corn or bread. Even finely chopped liver was refused. Sunfish, 

 sticklebacks, bullheads, and crayiish when captured by this bird were 

 at once removed from the water of its tank and taken as far from it 

 as the limits of its cage would permit before they were eaten, a 

 proceeding evidently intended to eliminate the possibility of their 

 escape. Crayfish were pecked and shaken until all their legs fell off 

 and the creature rendered helpless before they were eaten. The legs 

 were afterwards sought out and swallowed. Amphipods and other 

 small aquatic forms were captured with great skill and eaten on the 



