RALLID.K THE— RAII-S, GALLINULES, AND COOTS. 95 



Porzana noveboracensis ((Jinel.) 



YELLOW KAIL. 

 Popular synonym. Little Yellow Bail. 

 Fulwa n'irehnraceiisis Gmel. S. N. i.pt. ii, 1788. 7«1. 



(Jrluaomelra noeeboracennis Stephes8,1824.— AUD. Hjnop. 183;', 2ia; B. Am. v. 1S12. Ii2. 



pi. 307. 

 liallus nuvehoracensis BoNAP. 1927; Am. Orn. iv, ISB. 13*;. pi. 27. flg. 2.— NuTT. Man. ii. 



1834. 215.— Sw. & BicH. F. B. A. ii. 1831. (02.— AuD. Orn. Biog. iv, 1838, 251, pi. 32;t. 

 Purzana noreljorncensis Cass, in Bainl's B. N. Am. 1S.>8, 7.VJ.— Baied. Cat. N. Am. B. 

 1859, No. .W7.— C0UES,Key,1872. 271; Check List. 1873,No. K'.>; 2d vd. 1882, No. fiSO; Birds 

 N. W. 1874, 539.— Bid GW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 575; Man. N. Am. B. 1887, MO.— A. 

 O. U. Check List, 1886, No. 215. 

 "Porzana jamaicensis (?)" (error) BiDow. Orn. 40th P.ir. E.xp. 1877, 613 (Nevada aud 

 Utah)." 



Hab. Eastern North America, north to Hudson's Bay, Ni>va Scotia, west to Utah and 

 Nevada. No extralimital record except Cuba and the Bermudas. 



Sp. Chab. Adult. Yellowish ochracoous. very glossy above, where broailly striped 

 with black, the black intersected by narrow bars of white; belly whitish; Hanks dusky 

 narrowly barred with white; Vissum light cinnamon; axillars, lining of wing, and expo.sed 

 portion of so'^ondaries. white "Bill greenish black, with the base dull yellowish orange; 

 iris hazel; feet and claws light flesh-color" (Audubos). Total length about 6.00 inches; 

 wing 3.00-3.50; culmen, .50.55; tarsus, .90-1.00; middle toe, .90. 



Tliere is considerable individual variation, both in size aud 

 markiuf^H, even among speciineus from the same locality. 



Although very rarely seen, on account of its skulking habits 

 and extreme reluctance to take wing, the little Yellow Rail is 

 not an uncommon bird in Illinois. Mr. Nelson gives it as "not 

 very rai'e" in Cook county, where it arrives early in ^lay. Sev- 

 eral specimens, he says, are taken each spring, before the grass 

 beiomes sufficiently high to effectually conceal them. The 

 National Mn.seum pos.ses.ses its eggs from Winnobago, taken by 

 Mr. J. \V. Tolmaii, thus proving that it breeds in the northern 

 part of the State. 



'The small Rail referred by me, with great hesitation, to J', jnmnirensis. in 

 my "Report of the Ornithology of the Fortieth Paiallel E.\pedition" (Vol. IV., Pt. iii, p. 61.1), 

 was undoubtedly thi.s species, which is the only one showing white alone the hinder margin 

 of the wing— a peculiarity noti'd of the birds observed. The apparently "blackish color" 

 was due to imperfect observation. 



