Descriptive List 111 



to reach North Carolina. This fact added greatly to the interest of the discovery 

 of a nest with four fresh eggs on Gull Shoal Island, in Pamhco Sound, Dare County, 

 by Pearson, on May 20, 1898. The top of the nest was just twelve inches above 

 the mud in which the rushes were growing that supported it. It measured six 

 inches across the top. The eggs were retained in Pearson's private collection until 

 destroyed by mice four years later. Bishop took a moulting female at Pea Island 

 on February 9, 1901. {Auk, 1901, p. 26.5.) H. H. Brimley saw one at close range 

 on Lake Elhs, May 16, 1906. He regards the species as a rare transient at Raleigh, 

 where he has taken specimens on the following dates: March 7, 1891; April 11 and 

 25. 1894; April 12, 1898; April 26 and May 1 and 9, 1900; May 3 and 6, 1889; 

 September 8, 1896, and October 9, 1893. WajTie, in Birds of South Carolina, says 

 that in autumn the Virginia Rails freciuent fields where pea-vines are growing and 

 about ready to be harvested, and appear not to be dependent on water when in such 

 situations. 



Genus Porzana (Vieill.) 



91. Porzana Carolina (Linn.). Sora. 



Descriplion. — Olive brown, streaked, breast slate-gi-ay, back streaked; belly barred. Adult 

 with face and middle line of throat black. L., 7.87-9.25; W., 3.87-4.36; T., 1.75-2.12. 



Range. — North America, breeding from New Jersey northward; winters from South Caro- 

 lina southward. 



Range in'North Carolina. — Whole State during the migrations. 



4' 



i^^^^ 



FiO. 73. SOEA. 



The Soras are common transients in North Carolina. During the early autumn 

 they frequent the rice-fields and many of the marshes of the eastern part of the 

 State. Being choice articles of diet, they are in great demand, especially in the 

 Wilmington market, where they are known as "coots." Large numbers are taken 

 at night by means of a torch and stick, in the grass along the margins of ditches 

 and creeks. Upon the approach of frost they depart suddenly, by night, for the 

 South. This abrupt disappearance from regions where the day before they were 

 common is a source of mystification to many people, and in New Hanover County 

 there are negroes who solemnlj^ assert that the birds turn into frogs and go into the 

 mud for the winter. 



The records made by C. S. Brimley at Raleigh, during a period of ten years, 

 show the earliest fall record of the Sora there to have been August 21, and the 



