BIRDS OF CUBA 55 



74. Porzana Carolina (Linne). 

 Sora; Gallinuela Chica. 



From October to April it is not uncommon to flush Soras from rushes 

 and reed beds, but they never are very abundant and certainly not so 

 common as they were said to be when Gundlach was alive. 



75. Porzana flaviventer gossii (Bonaparte). 

 Yellow Rail; Gallinuela Chica. 



Yellow Rails from Cuba and Jamaica have much less yellow on the 

 under surfaces than typical birds from Guiana, so that I am constrained 

 to reestablish Bonaparte's name. 



The little Yellow Rails simply swarm in Lake Ariguanabo and in the 

 ponds of the Cienaga, although they always have been considered really 

 rare and few birds have been less well represented in collections. 



I owe my fine series to having learned by chance that they live far 

 from shore in the extensive bonnet-beds. When frightened, they hop into 

 one of the big rolled-up bonnet leaves and stay there quietly until convinced 

 that danger has passed. I have thus caught them in my hands. They are 

 so shy, and move so stealthily, that securing a series demands a quick eye 

 and a finger even quicker on the trigger. By thrashing the bonnet-beds 

 at Lake Ariguanabo with a long bamboo, many Yellow Rails have been 

 flushed, to take short, feeble flights. I never have seen a single individual 

 except where there were bonnet-beds, and I believe that they only frequent 

 terra firma to build their nests and lay. Gundlach once saw an empty nest 

 which he presumed was made by a Yellow Rail, but the eggs are wholly 

 unknown. 



76. Creciscus jamaicensis jamaicensis (Gmelin). 

 Black Rail. 



Except for one found dead on the roof of a house in Havana, there is 

 no positive Cuban record. Gundlach, who got this specimen, believed that 



