° 1918 ] Harlow, Breeding Birds of Penna. and N. J. 21 



Pennsylvania. Data on sixteen nests give: average set, 5 (3-6); average 

 date, April 15 (earliest April 8). 



13. Butorides virescens virescens. Green Heron. — Very com- 

 mon breeder except in the wilder and timbered mountain districts where 

 it is rare. Data on twenty-six nests give: average set, 5 (3-6); average 

 date — fourteen southern New Jersey nests, May 24; eight central and 

 northern Pennsylvania nests, June 1. 



14. Nycticorax nycticorax nsevius. Black-crowned Night Heron. 

 — Common summer resident in southern New Jersey and southeastern 

 Pennsylvania north to Belvidere and Northampton County. I have 

 never found it in the mountains and but rarely west of the Alleghanies. 

 Data on sixty nests give: average set, 4 (3-6); average date April 25 

 (latest, June 6). 



15. Rallus elegans. King Rail. — Confined to the Delaware valley 

 from Bridesburg to Tinicum where it is a rather scarce breeder and 

 probably south to Delaware Bay. Data on five nests give, average set 9 

 or 10 (6-13); average date, June 5 (earliest, May 30). 



16. Rallus crepitans. Clapper Rail. — Very abundant on the New 

 Jersey salt marshes becoming scarcer from Ocean County northward. 

 Data on twelve nests give: average set, 10 or 11 (6-15); average date, 

 May 30 (May 20-July 15). 



17. Rallus virginianus Virginia Rail. — A common but local 

 breeder in marshes throughout Pennsylvania except in the higher moun- 

 tain districts and west of the Alleghanies where I have no records. It is 

 especially plentiful in the level valleys of central Pennsylvania. 



In New Jersey I have found it nesting on the salt marshes in Ocean 

 and Burlington Counties, though not commonly, and also along the Dela- 

 ware. Data on seventeen nests give: average set on the salt marshes, 

 7 (6-8), in central Pennsylvania 10 (9-14); average date, salt marshes, 

 June 7, central Pennsylvania May 16 (May 10- June 27) . I am at a loss to 

 account for the early nesting of the birds from central Pennsylvania. 

 That the nests from the salt marshes are not abnormally late is shown 

 by the records of ten others from the Delaware valley which average 

 June 5. 



18. Porzana Carolina. Sora. — A rare breeder in the Delaware valley 

 at Bridesburg but abundant in suitable marshes in central Pennsylvania 

 where I have found it nesting in Center, Mifflin, Clearfield, Huntington, and 

 Synder Counties. Data on thirty-two nests from the latter district give: 

 average set, 10 (8-15); average date, May 17 (May 10- June 11). 



19. Creciscus jamaicensis. Black Rail. — Contrary to all pre- 

 cedent the writer has found this rail a common though local breeder in 

 suitable salt marshes along the New Jersey coast in Ocean, Burlington and 

 Atlantic Counties, as well as on the edges of the coast islands. Its secretive 

 habits and the fact that it is very difficult to flush probably account for 

 the rarity of the eggs in collections. The writer has personally found 

 eighteen nests and has examined a number of others. Data recorded on 



