NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 333 



That it is not an "abnormal specimen " of the latter is almost certain, from the 

 fact that specimens of P. jamaicensis from the mainland of California do not, 

 apparently, present any difference either of size or coloration from those from 

 the Atlantic States, the West Indies, or Chili, notwithstanding numerous examples 

 have been compared. 



Some years later William Brewster (1907), who had accmnulated 

 a series of black rails from the mainland of California, called atten- 

 tion to certain characters which convinced him "that the black rail 

 of CaUfornia is at least subspecifically distinct from that of the eastern 

 United States." He treats it, however, as merely a subspecies of the 

 eastern bird, though it now seems to masquerade as a full species. 

 Recent California writers have called it the California black rail, 

 which seems to be a most appropriate name, as its connection with 

 the Farallones was purely accidental. 



Nesting. — It was just 50 years after the type specimen was taken 

 on the Farallones that Frank Stephens (1909) gave us the first 

 information as to its only known breeding grounds near San Diego. 

 He writes: 



Many years ago Mr. H. W. Henshaw told me that he had been informed 

 that California black rails (Creciscus coturniculus) were sometimes common in 

 the salt marshes around San Diego Bay. In our conversation Mr. Henshaw 

 seemed to be under the impression that these rails were but migrants at San 

 Diego and that they were most likely to be found very late in the autumn. 

 Last spring the manual training teacher here told me that one of his pupils had 

 found the eggs of the California black rail in a marsh near National City. This 

 boy gave me considerable information about the habits of these rails which I 

 will summarize. He had done much hunting for the nests and thought he was 

 lucky if he found a nest in half a day's steady search. The nest seems to be 

 usually situated in very thick marsh vegetation (Salicorn a, etc.) near the high- 

 est limits of the high tide. He carefully turned over all the upper part of the 

 mass of plants foot by foot. He said the nests were always covered, but were 

 usually from an inch to several inches above the ground. I understood him to 

 say that he had found several empty nests, some not yet used, and some which 

 the young birds had left. He said that he had never found any bird at the 

 nest, which might be expected from the nests being so well hidden and the ease 

 with which the bird could slip off and keep out of sight. He said he found eggs 

 about the middle of March and about the 20th of April. Five and six seems to 

 be the usual number but he knew of one set that contained eight eggs. All the 

 eggs he knew of had been found in the last four years in a tract of less than 100 

 acres. He said that he had heard notes that he believed were made by this 

 rail and described them as a sort of clicking sound. He thinks that at low 

 tide the rails hide in crab holes, at times. 



A. M. Ingcrsoll (1909) then published the results of his own ex- 

 perience with the nesting habits of this elusive rail, from which I 

 quote, as follows: 



While searching for the undiscovered eggs of the large-billed sparrow. May 4, 

 1908, I took a few high steps to break mj' way through a tangled mass of weeds 

 and was surprised to see rise near my right knee, a California black rail. 

 Examination of a dense growth of Salicornia amhigua brought to light a well 



