THE OOLOGJST. 



305 



Sora and Virginia Rails. 



SoKA Rail. A glance :it tiie map of 

 Minnesota will Unci many of its counties 

 completely' dotted with lakes and one 

 would naturally and riglitly expect it 

 to be tlie home of an al)undance of 

 water birds. 



Of all those which bi*eed in Hennepin 

 County, in which Minneapolis is locat- 

 ed, the Sora Rail is perhaps the most 

 abundant. 



One cannot journey very far alniifr a 

 road without coming aci'oss one of those 

 little ponds so common to our land- 

 scape with its borders of wild rice or 

 flags and wet meadows surrounding it. 

 In these the bird in question makes its 

 summer home and though perhaps the . 

 ordinary passers are all unaware that 

 such a bird exists, the ornithologist 

 tramping through the grass or search- 

 ing among the Mags will have no dilH- 

 culty in flushing one occasionly. 



The Rail may be considered a semi- 

 nocturnal bird. He keeps hitlden away 

 la thegrass during the broad day but as 

 soon as evening approaches he comes 

 forth from his retreats and at twilight 

 you may find him in his fullest activity 

 moving about on the lily i)ads or float- 

 ing vegatation on tiie borders of these 

 ponds. 



They do not find the least difficulty 

 ia obtaining support, however light the 

 material on which they place them- 

 selves, a floating flag or a rice stem will 

 give an ami)le foundation and when it 

 is necessary to cross the clear water 

 they will eiiher raise themselves in 

 short flight or lower themselves and 

 swim as does a Coot or (iallinule. The 

 tail, what little there is of it, is carried 

 erect whtMi walking and I have- seen 

 one in breeding time with his tail full 

 spread strutting about after the man- 

 ner of a Turkey gobider. 



Their arrival is always a'^sociated in 

 my mind with that of the Yellow-head- 

 ed Blackl)ird an<l (he Coot, which in 



this locality is a little l)efore the first of 

 May. 



The nesting begins as early jis the 

 middle of May and continues into the 

 middle of July. 



Fresh »'ggs can l)e found here about 

 the first of June more commonly than 

 at other periods. 



I have found the nests situated in the 

 long gra.ss of the meadows, in the Hags 

 .».k1 cattails of the swamps and more 

 commonly in the matted tussocks of 

 wild rice stocks where there is an en- 

 tanglement of old and new growths. 

 The nest is formed of grasses or weeds, 

 it is not ver}' deep inside and has a 

 large diameter considering the size of 

 the bird. It is placed all the way from 

 close proximity to the surface to a foot 

 and half above it. Ten eggs may be 

 called an average set though they vary 

 considerably about this number. 



When the summer draws to a close 

 the birds do not confine themselves so 

 much to their hidden I'ctreats of the 

 breeding season but take to the more 

 open rice bordered streams and lakes . 

 There on account of the thinness of 

 the wild rice they may be found at all 

 hours though, as I have said before, they 

 are more active ut twilight. 



The young are grown and their num- 

 bers are swelleil so that they are much 

 more noticeable'at this ])erioil than in 

 the si)ring. 



During the present season they were 

 much more alnindant than they have 

 been for four or live years past; it may 

 be on account ol the lack of heavy 

 spring rains this year which so often 

 raise the water over the meailows Just 

 at the breeding sea.son. 



I visited a large lake somi! miles dis- 

 tant from Minneapolis early liiis fall, 

 for the i)urpose of himling ducks. 

 Hundreds of Rails had gatheicd in the 

 growth of wild rice that was .scattered 

 from one end of the lake to tht? other. 

 Every shot from my gun awakened 

 «uch a .'•eries of piping note- iIkii if w ■•< 



