28 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA 



string over his shoulder, was a king rail (R. elegans) 

 tied by the leg and in the hands of one of the boys. 



"'It seems that the rail had been pointed by their dog, 

 flushed and shot at. She returned immediately, however, 

 to the spot where she had been flushed first, and allowed 

 herself to be captured by the boys. I asked permission 

 of the owner to examine the bird, and oberving a protub- 

 erance near the vent, I pressed it, and received in my 

 hand a mature egg. This egg measures 1.54 by 1.22. The 

 ground color is dull white, blotched and spotted with 

 rusty brown, also specks of the same color and indistinct 

 spots of lilac. The brown spots are largest and irregu- 

 larly scattered over the surface. They vary in size from 

 fifteen hundredths to the one hundredth of an inch in 

 diameter. I returned to the marsh with one of the boys, 

 who not being able to locate the tussock of bulrush where 

 they had captured the rail, our search for the nest was 

 fruitless." (1888). 



Two years later he wrote: "Not common. Resident. 

 Breeds." (1890d). 



No. 327. Male. Greensboro. Dec. 23, 1889. W. C. Avery. 

 No. 853. Male. Greensboro. May 23, 1891. W. C. Avery 



36. PORZANA CAROLINA (Linnaeus). 



SORA. 



Recorded by the Doctor at Greensboro, Oct. 10, 1888. 

 Another entry in his original note books reads : "A sin- 

 gle individual of the sora was seen and taken on Dauph- 

 in Island, Sept. 21, 1892." 



"Rare. Occurs during autumn and spring migra- 

 tions." (1890d). 



No. 1028. Male. Greensboro. Mar. 11, 1893. W. C. Avery. 

 No. 1029. Female. Greensboro. Mar. 11, 1893. W. C Avery. 



37. COTURNICOPS NOVEBORACENSIS (Gmelin). 

 Yellow Rail. 



In consulting the entry in the Doctor's original cata- 

 logue of the specimen cited below, this note was found 

 which serves to show his view of a certain phase of 

 nomenclature: "My first record of the yellow crake. 

 In looking up the name of this bird I find that the A. 0. 



