The OoLOGiST. 



VOL. XIV. NO. 2. 



ALBION, N. Y., FEBRUARY, 1897. Whole No. 129 



Notes on the Virg-inia and Sora Rails. 



These interestiug water birds are very 

 common summer residents of Tona- 

 wanda Swamp, wlierever there is a 

 wet marsh, or any other place that is 

 covered with water, in which coarse 

 grass, sedges, or cat-tails are growing. 

 Both the Virginia and Sora Rails ar- 

 jive here at the same time— about the 

 middle cf April and nest side by side 

 in some marsh or swamp. 



The Virginia Rail generally begins to 

 nest about a week earlier than the Sora. 

 The Virginia Rail commences to nest 

 about the lirs't of May — as soon as the 

 grass in the swamps gets tall enough for 

 them to hide their nests in it, and nests 

 until the middle of June. 



The Virginia Rail generally chooses 

 a thick bunch of Ic^ng marsh grass as a 

 nesting place. 1)U': I have found many 

 in small bushes, and a few at the ba.^e 

 of small saplings. 



When the nest is placed in a bunch of 

 grass, the birds will build it up about 

 six or eight inches from the water, and 

 then carefully draw together the tops of 

 the grass overhanging the nest and 

 make a sort of bovver, which conceals 

 the nest and makes it e.xceedingly hard 

 to discover. 



On the21st of May, 18'J4, I visited a 

 favorite breeding place of this Rail, 

 which was a very wet and swampy 

 place, the water being from six inches 

 to two fnet deep, much of it being cov- 

 ered nith moss and small aquatic 

 plants. It was full of mire-holes, and 

 I would often get in up to the waist. 



Long marsh grass, cat-tails, reeds, 

 sedges and thick clumps of bushes, cov- 

 ered the water in most places. 



I staid with the Rails about an hour 

 and a half, and when I started for home 

 I had three quarts of solid Rails eggs. 



of both the Virginia and Sora. I could 

 have collected many more, but I did 

 not take any sets that were not com- 

 plete, or any that were badly incubated. 



Most of the Virginia Rail's nests were 

 placed in large bunches of grass, but 

 some were placed in low bushes and 

 one or two were situated on stumps. 

 They were nearly all well hidden, being 

 covered over with long grass. They 

 were composed of fine grass and reeds, 

 some green and some dry, the nest 

 being hollowed just enough to keep the 

 eggs from rolling out. 



I have often visited the Rails since 

 and have tkken many sets of their eggs, 

 and examined hundreds that I did not 

 take. I think I have seen within the 

 last three years at least two thousand 

 eggs of the Virginia and Sora Rails. 

 They were, however, not nearly as com- 

 mon last year as they were the year be- 

 fore, and I find they change their nest- 

 ing places when disturbed. The Vir- 

 ginia Rail is more common than the 

 Sora in this locality. 



The eggs of the VLiginia Rail in each 

 set varies from seven to thirteen, but 

 the number commonly laid is ten or 

 eleven. They vary greatly in size, col- 

 or, shape, and markings. My brother 

 and I now have two hundred eggs of 

 the Virginia Rail in our collection, out 

 of which twenty-five selected specimens 

 measure 1.24 in. long by .93 in. broad. 



Some are nearly round, while others 

 are long and pointed. I have some 

 eggs of the Virginia Rail on which the 

 ground color is nearly pure white, hav- 

 ing but very few spots on them, the 

 spots being very small, and hardly any 

 two alike in color, being dark brown, 

 light brown, lilac, purple and many 

 other colors. I have other sets on 

 which the groundcolor is a very dark 

 cream, almost brown, and covered with 



