U2 



POEZiNA NOrEBOnACE?fSlS. 



in winter from the Cai-oliuiis to Key West. They breed iu Massachusetts during the last 

 week in May or first in June. 



PORZANA ISrOVEBORACENSIS. 



Yellow Bail. 



Porzana Novcboracensis Cass., B;iii-d's Birds N. A.; 185S, 750. 



DESCRIPTION. 

 Sp. Cn. Form, slender. Size, small. Tongue, wide, thin, and horny, especially at. tip which is gradually rouiidcil 

 and bifid. Bill, rather slender. 



Color. AcIuU. Above, and on sides and flanks, dark-brown, with all the fenthers, exce|)ting primaries, longitudi- 

 nally streaked with yellowish and transversely banded with white. Neck, breast, and under tail coverts, reddisli-butl. Re- 

 mainder of under portions, and tips of secondaries, white. Legs, iris, and bill, brown, with the latter yellow at base of 

 lower mandil)lo. Youny. Similar to the adult but paler below. 



OBSERVATIONS. 

 Readily known by the .small size, broad white band on secondaries, and colors as dcs<!ribed. Distributed, in summer 

 from Hudson's Bay to IMassachusetts. Winters in Florida. 



DIMENSIONS. 

 Average measurements of specimens from Eastern North America. Length, H-75; stretch, 1-2-50; wing, 3-55; tail, 

 1-65; bill, -55; tai-sus, '80. Longest speciuien, 7"25; greatest extent o( wing, 13-00; hmgest wing, 3 80; tail. 1-75. bill, -fiO; 

 tarsus 85. S'!ort;e-it speci:nea, f)-03; s:uallest extent of wing, l^'OD; shortest wiaj;, 3'2.j; tail, IjJ; bill, -.JO; tar-us, -75. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 

 Nesls, placed on the ground in marshy places, composed of grass, weeds, etc. E(/i/'<, from six to ten in nuiiibcr, oval 

 in fbrm, deep buff in color, dotted and spotted irregularly, but very sparcely, with reddish-brown and lilac. Dimensions 

 from •8.5x1-15 to -80x1-05. 



HABITS. 

 "September eighth, 1868, walking with a young lad over a squash field on high land, 

 but within twenty or thirty rods of a meadow; suddenly I heard the boy who was on the 

 lookout for specimens, excLiim, 'Here's a Sparrow with white wings!' 'Shoot it!' stiid I, 

 and looking toward him, I saw him beating about among the squash leaves, then raise his 

 gun and fire, after which he ran forward, and stooping down, exclaimed, 'It is a Rail!' I 

 hastened to the spot, took the liird in my hand, and to my surprise and delight, it proved 

 to be the rare Yellow Rail, the first that I had ever seen; a female it proved upon dissec- 

 tion, (No, 1240). This was in the dusk of the evening, and when first started, the bird 

 made a squeaking noise, but not loud, for I stood within fifteen rods of the place and did 

 not hear it. The secondaries of this specimen are broadly margined with white, ;i fact not 

 noticed by Audulion or Baird; thus this must be peculiar, or these ornithologists winild 

 Jttive observed it; indeed it gave the bird the appearance of htiving white wings, in the dusky 

 light in which it was shot. I should think that it is a young bird but iu perfect plumage. 

 The body and head remind one strongly of some of the small foreign Quails." 



The iibove is an t^xtract from one of my note books, and four yetirs later, on the twen- 

 tieth of January, I started a Yellow Rail in one of the partly submerged marshes on the bor- 

 der of the St. John's River in Florida, near Blue Spring. This specimen rose some dis- 

 tance from me and flew quite rapidly, for a Rail, in a straight line for some distance, then 

 dropped into the tall grass, from which I could not make it rise again. I easily recognized 

 this specimen by the small size and conspicuous white tippings to the i>rimaries, a charac- 

 ter which I find is constant in all specimens that I have exiunined, but which appears to 

 have been overlooked by most writers on ornithology. In June, 1873, I heard some sin- 



