BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 



215 



BLACK RAIL {Creciscus jamaicensis) . 

 Common or local name: Little Black Rail. 



Length. — About 5 inches. 



Adult. — Head, chin, throat, fore and side neck, and lower parts dark slate 

 or dusky; head darkest on top and nape, where it meets the brown of 

 hind neck; back and hinder parts mainly rich brown; wings and tail 

 brownish black, marked with white; back, wings, belly, flanks, tail 

 coverts and tail barred with white. 



Field Marks. — Smallest of all Rails and very dark; must not be confounded 

 with the young of other Rails, which also are small and black. 



Notes. — Probably kik-hik-kik, quecah, or kik-ki-ki-ki , ki, qnckili, or vari- 

 ants (Brewster). Chi-chi-cro-croo-croo several times repeated in a sharp 

 high tone, audible to a considerable distance (Marsh). Female, Croo- 

 croo-croo-o repeated like the commencement of the song of the Yellow- 

 bellied Cuckoo; male, Kik-kik-kik-Hk or Kuk-ktik-kuk-kiik (Wayne). 



Nest. — Of grasses, on ground in marsh. 



Eggs. — Six to ten, 1.05 by .80, white speckled with rich reddish brown dots, 

 more numerous at large end. 



Range. — Eastern North America. Breeds from southern Ontario and 

 Massachusetts south to Kansas, Illinois and South Carolina; winters 

 through the Gulf States and south to Jamaica and Guatemala; casual 

 in Bermuda. 



History. 

 The Black Rail, the smallest Rail in America, is believed 

 to be a very rare bird in New England, where it has been 

 recorded only from Maine, Connecticut and Massachusetts. 



