6 ALLEN, The Little Black Rail. Auk 
Jan. 
the present species. Its small size doubtless also aids in its escap- 
ing observation and capture. At least all the early records of its 
capture seem due purely to accident. 
In completion of the present history of the species, a few of 
the more interesting and important later accounts of its capture 
may be here transcribed. In 1869 Mr. W. P. Turnbull (Birds 
of East Penn. and New Jersey, p. 33) records it as “Rare. It 
breeds on the marshes of Cape May County, New Jersey.” Mr. 
Stone says ‘“‘there is a set of eggs in the Collection of the Acad- 
emy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia labeled New Jersey. 
It may still occur asa rare breeder” (Birds of Penn. and New 
Jersey, 1894, p. 67). 
In 1876 Mr. H. A. Purdie recorded a specimen from Clarks 
Island, Plymouth Harbor, Massachusetts, which was “ picked up 
dead in August, 1869,” and also its discovery by Mr. John N. 
Clark at Saybrook, Conn. Of the latter he says: ‘Of this spe- 
cies Mr. Clark....writes me that a neighbor of his, while mow- 
ing at that place, July ro, 1876, swung his scythe over a nest of ten 
eggs on which the bird was sitting, unfortunately cutting off the 
bird’s head and breaking all but four of the eggs” (Bull. Nutt. 
Or. Club, Il, 1877, p. 22). , Hight years) later Mr. Clarkthad 
the good fortune to discover another nest on “Great Island, a 
tract of salt meadow near the mouth of the Connecticut River, 
on its eastern shore,” while hunting for nests of the Seaside and 
Sharp-tailed Finches. This nest was found on the 6th of June, 
1884, and contained three fresh eggs. On the 13th of June he 
again visited the nest and “found therein the full complement 
of nine eggs.’ The old bird, however, escaped capture, although 
Mr. Clark devoted the whole day to this special end, visiting the 
nest about every half hour. Mr. Clark’s very full account of 
the nest and eggs was published in ‘The Auk,’ Vol. I, 1884, pp. 
393, 394- 
On June 19, 1875, Mr. E. W. Nelson found a nest of this 
species in the Calumet Marshes, in northern Illinois. The nest 
contained ‘ten freshly laid eggs,” which, with the nest, Mr. Nelson 
has very carefully described (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, I, 1876, p. 
43); Bull Essex: ‘Inst. Vill wey pp.rs4, 135))...0 Ivar Melia 
Brimley and Mr. John S. Cairns have reported the Little Black 
