608 THE SORA RAIL. 
number than the Sora’s, may certainly be distinguished from them by their 
lighter creamy, or grayish white tones, as well as by the clearer red of their 
markings. 
No. 241. 
SORA RAIL. 
A O. U. No. 214. Porzana carolina (Linn.). 
Synonyms.—Caro.uina Ratt. Sora. Soree. 
Description.—Adu/lt: Above olive-brown varied by black and white in spots 
and stripes on back and scapulars,—the black broad and central, the white narrow 
and marginal; region about base of bill, chin, throat, and median crown-stripe 
black; cheeks behind, sides of throat, and breast bluish ash; below olive-brown 
to dusky, sharply barred with white, whitening on middle of belly; under tail- 
coverts tawny or tawny-washed; wing-quills fuscous; edge of wing and of first 
primary white; bill yellow, darkening on tip of upper mandible. /mmature: 
Without black on head and neck; chin whitish; throat and breast washed with 
light brown. Downy young: Sooty black, the down interspersed sparingly with 
longer glossy black hairs; a tuft of bright orange bristles on throat,—stiff and 
inclined forward ; and a bright red excrescence at base of upper mandible. Length 
8.00-9.50 (203.2-241.3); wing 4.20 (106.7); tail 2.00 (50.8); bill .83 (21.1); 
tarsus 1.36 (34.5); middle toe and claw 1.85 (47). 
Recognition Marks.—Chewink size, but stouter in appearance; marsh- 
skulking habits; short yellowish bill. 
Nesting.—Nest: a raised platform of grasses and sedge, usually placed cen- 
trally in grass tussock of swamp. Eggs: 8-15, dull buffy or ochraceous-buff (and 
so darker than eggs of Rallus virginianus) ; spotted and dotted with dark brown 
and with purplish shell-markings. Av. size, 1.24.x .90 (31.5x 22.9). Season: 
c. May 20; one brood. 
General Range.—Temperate North America, breeding chiefly northward, 
but less commonly on the Pacific Coast. Casually north to southern Greenland. 
South to the West Indies and northern South America. 
Range in Washington.—Not common summer resident and migrant both 
sides of the Cascade Mountains. 
Authorities——Rhoads, Auk, X. Jan. 93, p. 17. T. Rh. D'. D*. B. E. 
Specimens.—(U. of W.) Prov. P*. C. E? 
“AS thin as a rail” does not refer to the Lincoln variety of split trees, but 
to this bird and its congeners. The birds are bilaterally compressed in order to 
enable theni to slip readily between the close-set stalks of vegetation. And 
this they do with almost incredible rapidity, and without leaving a wake of 
motion by which they may be traced. 
