678 Eefokt of State Geologist. 



Prof. J. A. Balmer, of Pullman, Wash., and a former resident of 

 Vincennes, writes: "The Little Yellow Eail interests me very much. 

 While in Knox County, snipe hunting, each spring, especially in April, 

 I used to find (on particular swamps only) an abundance of this tiny 

 Eail. My old Gordon setter would point by a tussock, and as I walked 

 up to flush, he would nose into the grass and bring out a Yellow Rail, 

 always quite unharmed. I have seen him repeat this act as many as a 

 half dozen times in a single day. 



"They were always abundant in spring in this particular part of 

 Males Prairie. I have found them in the fall while quail hunting, but 

 this rarely." He thinks that it breeds there, as he has found it in the 

 breeding season. 



Except the eggs found May IT at Winnebago, 111., by J. W. Tol- 

 man, which are in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, I 

 know of none that are claimed to be of this bird. Dr. Coues says of 

 this set of six: "They are the only ones I have seen, and differ from 

 those of P. Carolina in the color of the ground, which is a rich, warm 

 bufi'y -brown, marked at the greater end with a cluster of reddish-choc- 

 olate dots and spots. Size, 1.15 by .85 to 1.05 by .80." (Birds of 

 N. W., p. 539.) 



Prof. Evermann met with it near Bloomiugton in August, 1885, 

 where one specimen was taken alive in a marsh. It was noted at 

 Worth, 111., September 22, 1891 (Parker). Thus, in August and 

 through September they are migrating to their winter homes. Some 

 of them do not go very far; others reach the Gulf of Mexico. As it is 

 said to winter in central Illinois (Cooke), it may remain some winters 

 in southern Indiana. It generally migrates early in April, reaching 

 our northern swamps some years as early as April 2. Sometimes, 

 however, it is found migrating in May. The latest spring record I have 

 is three specimens taken by Mr. G. G. Williamson, at Muncie. May 

 12, 1890. It has been reported from but few localities. Mr. Chas. Dury 

 informs me that in his own collection and that of the Cuvier Club, 

 Cincinnati. 0., there are specimens from A'incennes, Chalmers and 

 English Lake. It has been taken in Clinton County (Xewlin). and 

 Mr. Forest West reports one taken at Adams, Decatur County, in the 

 spring of 1889. Mr. C. E. Aiken says while it is seldom seen, it occurs 

 in considerable numbers in Lake County. Pie took it at Water Valley 

 in 1889. 



Compared with the larger Eails, it is apparently a rare bird in In- 

 diana. Mr. Wm. S. Perry, of Worcester, Mass., has in two ditTerent 

 years found them in some part of the Kankakee Marsh. The exact 

 locality I have been imable to determine. He first visited the place on 



