NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 317 



tory is shrouded in mystery and even its voice is not too well known. 

 Probably it is much more abundant than is generally supposed, but 

 its secretive habits cause it to be overlooked. 



Spring. — The yellow rail is iindoubtedl}^ an abundant migrant, both 

 spring and fall, throughout the United States, east of the Rocky 

 Mountains at least. Spring records are not as numerous as fall records, 

 probably because there are fewer men out with guns and dogs at that 

 season. It is an early migrant in the spring, one having been taken 

 near Detroit on March 26, 1908, and one caught alive in a snow bank 

 during an early April blizzard near River Forest, Illinois. On the 

 other hand there are some late records, which may indicate a more 

 southern breeding range than is generally supposed. F. B. McKech- 

 nie (1906) reported a female taken in Massachussetts on May 26, 

 1906, in which an egg was found that would probably have been laid 

 in three or four days. S. T. Danforth writes to me that he has seen 

 the yellow rail in Porto Rico as late as April 1, 1922, and C. J. Pen- 

 nock's notes contain a record of one at St. Marks, Florida, on May 

 22, 1915. Audubon (1840) was firmly convinced that this species 

 bred in the Southern States, but no recent positive records have con- 

 firmed this view. 



Courtshij). — We know little or nothing of the courtship of the 

 yellow rail, except that the clicking or '"kicker" notes form an im- 

 portant part of it. Rev. P. B. Peabody, in his extensive notes sent 

 to me on this species, says: 



While the chcking which constitutes the nuptial song of the yellow rail may 

 be fitfully heard at various times of the middle day, both its frequency and its 

 duration are greatly accentuated as day wears on to its final close. From mid- 

 June observations, the writer has sometimes believed that the nuptial ardor of 

 the male may wane after incubation begins, as indicated by the fact that under 

 this circumstance the clickings are sometimes more irregular and less frequent, in 

 some cases altogether ceasing during the greater part of the day. But that 

 this may not be indicative appears to be proven by Mr. Preble's experience. 

 This observer speaks of the calling of the yellow rails as being frequent, and 

 apparently persistent, in the middle of July. 



Nesting. — No one has had anywhere nearly as much experience 

 with the nesting habits of this elusive Uttle rail as this same enthusi- 

 astic observer; therefore I can not do better than to quote from 

 some of his writings. Mr. Peabody (1922) has well described its 

 familiar breeding grounds, in the "Big Coulee," in Benson Count}^, 

 North Dakota, as follows : 



One must give reasons why this bed of an ancient river should have been 

 chosen as a summer home by that rarest of inland water birds, the yellow 

 rail. The winding coulee, deep-set among the hills, is reached by steep ravines. 

 These are clothed with partridge berry, rose, willow, aspen, and the silver-leafed 

 buffalo berry. Rarely on these ravine sides are found huge boulders of yellow 

 sandstone, under the edges of which at times a turkey vulture may place her 

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