298 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA 



like bill (fig. 51), the slaty tone of the under surface and the presence 

 of black on the face and throat are enough to distinguish the Sora 

 from the slightly larger Virginia Rail. From both the Yellow and 

 Black rails the Sora is separable by its larger size, as well as different 

 coloration. In habits this species closely resembles the Virginia 

 Rail. 



From records at hand, April and May seem to be the months when 

 most birds of this species nest. In California the earliest date for 

 eggs is April 18, and the latest June 10. These extremes are, in part, 

 however, accounted for by differences in altitude, the early date being 

 for Whittier, in the lowlands of Los Angeles County, and the late 

 one for Lake Tahoe. 



The nest of the Sora is usually built on the ground and well con- 

 cealed in tules or tall grass. One found by H. C. Bryant (1915c, p. 

 194:, and IMS) in a small fresh-water marsh near Alvarado, Alameda 

 County, on April 23, 1915, was situated in a clump of pickle-weed 



{Salicoruki) , and consisted of a large 

 "^ mass of dry sedge stems and grass 

 l)lades, the latter chiefly composing the 

 lining. The nest proper rested on a mass 

 5486 of vegetation which raised it fully six 



inches above the ground. Externally it 

 Side of bill of • ^ i • i • t 



Natural size. was approxuuately seven inches m di- 



,. , 1 ,• 1 4. i ^ ameter and three and one-half inches 



Note relatively stout torm 



(compare with "fig. 50). liigh. The saucer-shaped depression 



holding the eggs was about four inches 

 across and two and one-half deep. The fourteen eggs which this nest 

 contained were arranged in a single layer except for one egg which 

 topped the rest. The incubation of these eggs ranged from quite 

 fresh to far advanced, showing either that some of the eggs had failed 

 of sufficient warmth to carry on incubation, or that the birds had com- 

 menced to sit as soon as the first few eggs had been deposited. The 

 latter surmise is more probably the correct one. 



Ray (1913, pp. 112-114) records the discovery of a nest among 

 tall grass in Bijou meadow at Lake Tahoe, June 4, 1909. It held the 

 unusually small complement of four eggs, and strange to say two of 

 these were pipped while two were infertile. A second nest found at 

 Al-Tahoe marsh, June 10, consisted of dry tules "laced to tules above 

 water three feet deep." This contained thirteen eggs in varying 

 stages of incubation. The same author (Ray, 19126, p. 145) found a 

 nest at Rowland's, Lake Tahoe, May 31, 1910, also with thirteen eggs. 

 Six sets of from seven to fourteen eggs, were taken by A. M. Shields 

 in a marsh near Los Angeles in 1886 (Davie, 1889, p. 102). A set of 

 six slightly incubated eggs was found near Whittier, April 18, 1896, 



