ibe beg ALLEN, The Little Black Rail. 5 
Bendire. Captain’ Bendire’s published record, in full, is as 
‘follows: “Seen on two occasions in the swamps near Malheur 
Lake, where it unquestionably breeds.” (Proc. Boston Soc. 
Nat. Hist., XIX, 1877, p. 143.) Dr. Brewer also cites Mr. H. W. 
Henshaw, as authority for its occurrence in California, who 
believes it, on information furnished by Mr. Gruber, “to be 
rather common in the extensive tule swamps of that State.” Mr. 
E. W. Nelson is Dr. Brewer’s authority for its occurrence in [Ili- 
nois, Mr. J. H. Batty for its capture in northern Connecticut, 
Mr. H. A. Purdie for its capture at Saybrook, Conn., and 
Plymouth, Mass., and Major Wedderburn and Mr. Hurdis for 
its occurrence in the Bermudas. Some of these references will 
bear amplification and more precise citation, in connection with 
later records. 
In general terms it may be said that the range of the Little 
Black Rail is now known to extend from Duefas, Guatemala 
(Salvin, Ibis, 1866, p. 198) and the West Indies (Jamaica, various 
records, Cuba, few records) northward in the eastern United 
States from Florida and Louisiana to Massachusetts, southern 
Ontario (Dundas marsh, Nash, in McIlwraith, Birds of Ont., 2d ed., 
p. 122), Ohio, Indiana, and Northern Illinois (various records). 
There are also records from Minnesota and Nebraska. Further 
west, there are a number of records from Kansas, two from 
Texas, one for Arizona, Lake Malheur, Oregon, and various 
records from California. There are breeding records from 
Jamaica, the Delaware marshes, Pennsylvania, Cape May County, 
New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois and Kansas. The references 
to its occurrence at various points on the west coast of South 
America (Peru and Chili) relate to its near ally, Forzana salinazzt, 
now recognized as a distinct species. It may therefore be as- 
sumed that its range extends northward, wherever there are 
localities suited to its peculiar needs, from Jamaica to near the 
northern border of the United States, and that it breeds through- 
out this range, retiring southward, at least to the more southern 
parts of the United States, in winter. The fact of its being so 
little known is doubtless due not so much to its extreme rarity 
as to its local distribution and peculiarly secretive habits, char- 
acteristic of all Rails, but especially emphasized, apparently, in 
