RAILS 141 



grass lined with fine grass and was placed in a tussock and 

 well concealed. 



The cry of the birds sounds much like "cutty-cutty-cutty", 

 though when with the young the note of the parent sounds 

 like "ki-ki-ki". In localities where they are likely to occur 

 they should be carefully looked for sneaking through the gi'ass. 

 The downy young are glossy black. The birds feed on worms, 

 lepidopterous larvae, snails, beetles and other marsh insects. 

 The flight of all the Rails is low, hesitating and difficult. 



Genus PORZANA Vieillot. 

 Subgenus PORZANA. 



214. Porzana carolhia (Linn.). Sora; Carolina Rail. 



Plumage of adults : front of head, chin, line down middle of neck and 

 stripe in middle of head black ; rest of head, throat and breast plumbeous ; 

 upper parts otherwise olive brown with black centers to many feathers and 

 white streaks on the scapulars and back in places ; wing brownish with white 

 on outer edge of first primary ; flanks barred with darkish and white ; belly 

 white. Immature plumage : brownish on the front of the head ; chin and 

 throat whitish ; lores brownish ; breast cinnamon washed ; darker above 

 Wing 4.10 to 4.50 ; culmen 0.82 ; tarsus 1.29. 



Geog. Dist. — Temperate North America, breeding from New York, Illinois 

 and California northward ; winters from the Carolinas to South America. 



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

 took; seen at Fort Fairfield, (Batchelder, B. N. 0. C. 7, p. 151). Cumber- 

 land; common, (Brock). Knox ; migrant, (Rackliff). Oxford ; not common 

 summer resident at Norway, (Verrill, P. E. I. 3, pp. 136 et seq.). Penobscot; 

 summer resident of very local occurrence, eggs were found near Bangor in 

 1898, (Knight). Sagadahoc; quite common in fall, (Spinney). Somerset; 

 common summer resident, (Morrell). Waldo; summer resident, seemingly 

 rare, (Knight). Washington; abundant, (Boardman). York; has been 

 taken in the county, (H. P. Libby). 



Locally this species occurs throughout the State from late 

 April until well along in October. Its breeding places are 

 chiefly about the inland marshes, bogs and ponds, and in such 

 places it is never found in very great numbers with us. Along 

 the coast in the more extensive marshes it is locally common 

 during migration. 



