ONTARIO. 



Subgenus COTURNICOPS Bonaparte. 



78. PORZANA NOVEBORACENSIS (Gm.). 215. 



Yellow Rail. 



Above, varied with blackish and ochrey-brown, and thickly marked with 

 narrow white semicircles and transverse bass ; below, pale ochrey-brown, 

 fading on the belly, deepest on the breast where many of the feathers aie 

 tipped with dark brown ; flanks rufous with many white bars ; lining of the 

 wing, white ; a brownish-yellow streak over the eye ; length about 6 inches. 



Hab. Eastern North America, from Nova Scotia and Hudson's Bay 

 west to Utah and Nevada. No extra-limital record except Cuba and the 

 Bermudas. 



Nest like that of the other Rails, 



Eggs 6 to 8 ; dark buff color, marked with reddish spots at the greater 

 end. 



We know little of this bird, partly because it belongs to a 

 class much given to keeping out of sight, but chiefly because it 

 is a rare species everywhere ; during the present year I saw a 

 fine mounted specimen in the store of Mr. Cross, taxidermist, 

 Toronto. It was got in the marsh near that city, and I have 

 heard of another which a few years since was got near the same 

 place and is now in the public museum at Ottawa. The greater 

 number of specimens of the Yellow Rail now in existence have 

 been found in New England, but that may be owing to the 

 greater number of collectors there. It would be well for our 

 Canadian sportsmen to look out for the species when visiting 

 its haunts, as from its general resemblance to the Sora it may 

 readily be overlooked. 



Subfamily GALLINULIN^. 



Genus GALLINULA Brisson. 



19. GALLINULA GALEATA (Light.). 219. 

 Florida Gallinule. 



Head, neck and underparts grayish-black, darkest on the former, paler 

 or whitening on the belly; back brownish-olive; wings and tail dusky; 

 crissum, edge of wing, and stripes on the flanks, white; bill, frontal plate, 

 and ring around tibiae red, the former tipped with yellow ; tarsi and' toes 



85 



