Rail-shooting 293 



evidence of its breeding. Mr. J. H. Batty shot 

 two of this species in a fresh-water marsh near 

 Hazardville, Connecticut ; they were nesting. Mr. 

 J. H. Clark records an instance from Saybrook, 

 Connecticut, of a bird killed on its nest, by a scythe, 

 and all but four of the ten eggs broken. The nest 

 resembles that of the meadow lark, and the eggs 

 are described as being white, finely dotted with 

 bright brown. In May, 1898, I picked up a speci- 

 men of this species dead, at Cobb's Island, Virginia. 

 It was close to the edge of a dry marsh, just inside 

 the ocean beach, and was about half eaten by ants. 

 A finely mounted bird was given me by Mr. Harry 

 Austin of Halifax, supposedly killed in the vicinity. 



The black rail has been found breeding com- 

 monly near Raleigh, North Carolina, by the 

 Messrs. Brimley. The nests are situated invari- 

 ably in a tussock in a wet meadow, where the 

 water stands around the high grass. The eggs 

 are laid from the last of May to the first of 

 August, and are from six to eight in number. 



There is a very interesting account of the dis- 

 tribution and habits of this species by Dr. J. A. 

 Allen in the Auk for January, 1900. 



CORN CRAKE 



(^Crex crex) 



Adult male and female — Upper parts, buff or light drab, striped with 

 black ; wings, reddish brown, marked indistinctly with white 

 transverse spots on the larger coverts ; lining of the wing, cin- 



