Vol. XVII 
ioe General Notes. I 7 I 
The tail presents the most curious blending of the two species, the two 
middle curled tail-coverts of the male Mallard, while still curled, are 
enormously lengthened, and now resemble the two long middle tail 
feathers of the Pin-tail; the middle tail feathers themselves are nearly 
as long as in the latter duck, but the rest of the tail is really Mallard. 
The crissum, again, is Pin-tail, and the orange-red feet are, in shape and 
color, as in the Mallard. —Gero. E. Bryer, Zulanze University, New 
Orleans, La. 
The Roseate Spoonbill in Kansas.— A specimen of this Southern bird 
was captured by a party of gentlemen from Wichita who were fishing on 
the Walnut River near Douglas, Butler County, Kansas, in April, 1899. 
The specimen is in the collection of Mr. Gerald Volk, of Wichita. It 
has not previously been reported from Kansas.—D. E. Lantz, Chaf- 
man, Kan. 
Breeding of the Little Black Rail (Porzana jamaicensts) at Raleigh, 
North Carolina.—In view of Dr. Allen’s account of this rare bird in the 
last number of ‘The Auk’ I was interested to see recently a set of eggs 
in the collection of Miss Jean Bell of Ridley Park, Pa., which seems not 
to be recorded. Inquiry as to the history of these eggs brought from the 
owner of the collection the following manscript notes of Messrs. H. H. 
and C. S. Brimley, which I was urged to publish. In doing so I wish to 
express my obligations both to Miss Bell and to Messrs. Brimley, to 
whom of course all credit belongs, my idea in publishing being merely 
to add to our knowledge of the bird in question. 
“The Little Black Rail nests regularly here [Raleigh, N. C.] in the 
wet meadows lving along Walnut Creek, choosing for that purpose only 
those portions of the meadows covered with long grass, and building its 
nest in such situations in a grass tussock, either where the water actually 
stands among the grass or close to such a situation. The nests have 
never been found among cat-tails or bull-rushes or in the dryer portions 
of the meadows. The nests are found by the farm hands when cutting 
grass in the meadow, the nest being usually cut into and the eggs more 
or less injured before the cutter sees the nest. One such nest we found 
ourselves, all the others have been found and the eggs brought to us by 
farm hands. The following is a list of sets found at Raleigh: 
‘‘1, May 26, 1890. Five eggs in the nest and three of them broken ; 
eggs fresh, nest of grass. 
“2. June 8, 1892. Eight eggs, one destroyed; incubation advanced. 
“3. June 16, 1892. Seven eggs, one broken; incubation about half 
completed. 
“4. June 3, 1893. Eight eggs, two destroyed; incubation half com- 
pleted. Nest cup-shaped, of dead cat-tail leaves and coarse grass. 
‘5. June 28, 1894. Eight eggs, one destroyed; fresh. 
