BIRDS OF 



food, which consists of aquatic insects, snails, worms, and the 

 seeds of such grasses as grow near its haunts, but if alarmed it 

 at once takes itself to the rushes and passes w^ith such swiftness 

 along the covered runwaj's which interlace the rush beds that it 

 will thus elude the pursuit of an active dog, and so avoid ex- 

 posing itself to the aim of the sportsman. 



It breeds regularly along the south shore of Hamilton Bay- 

 where it arrives early in May and leaves again in September. 



Genus PORZANA Vieillot. 



Subgenus PORZANA. 



77. PORZANA CAROLINA (Link.). 214. 



Sora. 



Above, olive-brown, varied with black, with numerous sharp white 

 streaks and specks ; flanks, axillars and lining of wings, barred with white 

 and blackish ; belly whitish ; crissum rufescent. Adult with the face and 

 central line of the throat black, the rest of the throat, line over eye, and 

 especially the breast more or less intensely slate-gray, the sides of the breast 

 usually with some obsolete whitish barring and speckling ; young without the 

 black, the throat whitish, the breast brown. Length, 8-9 ; wing, 4-4^ ; tail, 

 about 2 ; bill, f-f ; tarsus, ij ; middle toe and claw, i§. 



Hab. Temperate North America, but most common in the Eastern 

 Province, breeding chiefly northward. South to West Indies and Northern 

 South America. 



Builds a rude nest ot grass and rushes on the ground near the water. 



Eggs 8 to 10 ; dull drab, marked with reddish-brown. 



Here as elsewhere the Sora is the most numerous of the 

 Rail family, and is found breeding in all suitable places 

 throughout the country. Many also pass up north, and when 

 they return in the fall accompanied by their young they linger 

 in the marshes along the southern border till they are found 

 swarming everywhere ; they are very sensitive of cold and a 

 sportsman ma}' have good Rail shooting till late in the evening, 

 but should a sharp frost set in during the night he 

 may return in the morning and find that the birds have all left. 



They arrive early in May and remain till the first frost. 



84 



