140 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



sedges. Nine eggs were taken on Cobb's Island, Virginia, June 

 16, 1888, from a nest which was well hidden in a clump of 

 beach grass. The eggs are pale buffy white in color, rather 

 sparingly spotted with larger spots of reddish brown and lilac 

 than are eggs of the King Rail from which they are readily 

 distinguished. The eggs in question measure 1.69 x 1.16, 

 1.70 X 1.15, 1.70 X 1.15, 1.67 x 1.13, 1.69 x 1.15, 1.65 x 1.15, 

 1.67 X 1.14, 1.71 X 1.15, 1.63 x 1.13. As many as fifteen 

 eggs are sometimes laid. The young are covered with glossy 

 black down. The birds feed on small snails, soft mollusks, 

 various kinds of worms, insects and similar marsh forms of life. 



* 212. Rallus virghiianns Linn. Virginia Rail. 



Plumage : above appearing olive brownish, broadly striped with blackish, 

 the feathers bordered with pale grayish ; wing coverts rufous ; throat, 

 cheeks and lores whitish ; under parts cinnamon ; flanks dusky with white 

 bars. Wing 4.00 to 4.30 ; culmen 1.55 ; tarsus 1.90. 



Geog. Dist. — North America, breeding from Illinois, Pennsylvania and New 

 York north to Labrador ; winters from New York south to Guatemala and 

 Cuba. 



County Records. — Androscoggin; rare summer resident, (Johnson). Cum- 

 berland; rare summer resident, (Mead); common near Portland, (Lord). 

 Franklin; rare summer resident, (Swain). Kennebec; W. R. Gifford has a 

 specimen shot at Waterville, (Morrell). Knox; rare migrant, (Rackliff). 

 Oxford ; found young in down at Fryeburg in August, 1883, (Mead). Penob- 

 scot; rare summer resident, (Knight). Sagadahoc; common in fall, (Spin- 

 ney). Somerset; found a nest with five newly hatched young and two eggs 

 (sterile) at Hartland, August 5, 1896, (Knight). Washington; common, 

 (Boardman). 



The first arrivals from the south appear in late April, and 



the last lingerers are gone before the last of October. They 



nest in fresh marshes as a general thing, placing the nest in a 



tuft of sedges, rushes or similar vegetation not far from the 



water. Six to twelve eggs are laid, and they are pale buffy 



white, spotted with reddish brown and lilac. Seven eggs taken 



on Rattlesnake Island, Niagara River, June 16, 1894, measure 



1.38 X 0.95, 1.36 x 0.94, 1.30 x 0.95, 1.30 x 0.95, 1.35 x 0.95, 



1 .29 x 0.95, 1.35 x 0.91. The nest was built of coarse swamp 



