v,,l ,,,^ x | General \ 269 



Nesting of the Black Rail ' in New Jersey. - 



The Black Rail has been recorded as nesting in southern New Jersey in 

 is 10, 1877 and 1886, and judging from 1 bese data and the secretive habits of 

 the bird, it alv led to tne probable thai Li bred regularly in suitable 



localities where original conditions bad not been altered. Inquiries among 

 friends who do considerable gunning along I be co isl bel ween Cape May and 

 \ -iniry Park brought forth the facl thai al leasl two of them had shot 

 Black Rail in the fall, .and one told me thai he had seen young birds atrare 

 intervals on the - dt meadows. 



! requested him to make a special search for the bird during the breeding 

 ■ in of 1912, and on June 22 I was rewarded with a letter, announcing 

 tli" discovery of a aesl containing - on th< edge of the marshes 



back ui Brigantine, winch he had collected for me on June 20. On the 29th 

 I : ited the nesl from which the sel had been taken. It wasbuill in a low 

 marshy meadow, overgrown with Ball grass and sedge and very skilfully 

 concealed in a t hick mass of mixed green and dead gra -■. so t hal it was com- 

 pletely hidden from .dune. In composition, it was bettei buill and deeper 

 cupped than the nests of the Virginia, Sora, King and Clappei Rails that 

 I have seen. In size the nesl was little largei than the average structure of 

 the Robin, bul deeper-cupped and buill entirely of the dry, yellowish stalks 

 of the sedges, and then- in the lining, clung several black feathers. Think- 

 ing that there mighl be other nests in the vicinity we began searching every 

 thick clump of marsh grass thai we saw, and presently came upon another 

 also containing sev< i It was placed among thick clumps of marsh 



and was quite invisible until the grass was parted from above. It 

 was an inch above the sail meadow and was interwoven on all sides with 

 the surrounding stalks. We tried hard to flush the birds bul without. 

 success, although I once heard a prolonged call or succe hort 



quick note-, • kic, kic, kic, kic, kic.' The firsl sel of eggs was partly incu- 

 bated while the second . • ii is possible both were laid by the 

 same pair of birds. The eggs show great similarity and in each set one is 

 peculiar being discolored with a yellowish stain. This point-, to their 

 being laid by the same bird bul th< ice of time, nine days, seems too 

 short a period for the building of a new nesl and the laying of seven 



The ground color of the eggs is creamy white, well sprinkled with fine 

 dot* of reddish brown and a few larj The speckling is nearly like 



that seen in certain typi Meadowlark, but the ground coloi 



is entirely different. In size they are noticeably .-mailer and less pointed 

 than any of our othei Rails' l.02b Tsins. — Richard C. 



,a , Stab Colh </< , P< nna 



A Recent Capture of the Eskimo Curlew. — I wish to place on record 

 the capture of an Eskimo Curlew | Numenius borea a at Fox Lake, 



Dodge county, Wisconsin, ten miles northwesl of my home, on September 

 10, 1912. Sex, male, adult, fat and in good plumage. Number 7660, 

 collection of \\ . I 1. Snj der. 



