[2.32-] BIRDS OF OREGON 



Rails: Family Rallidae 



Virginia Rail: 



Rallus limicola limicola Vieillot 



DESCRIPTION. ''Adults: Upper parts olive brown, streaked with black; wing with 

 a large chestnut patch; sides of head slaty gray, lores blackish, and chin white; 

 throat and breast cinnamon brown; flanks black, barred with white. Young: 

 plumage much mottled with black, but chestnut wing patch always present." 

 (Bailey) Downy young: "The downy young Virginia rail is completely covered with 

 long, thick, rather coarse, black down, glossed bluish on the head and greenish on 

 the back. It can be distinguished from the young sora by the much longer bill, which 

 is yellowish at the base and tip and crossed by a broad black band in the middle; 

 there are also no orange bristles on the chin." (Bent) Si%e: "Length 8.iz-io.5o, 

 wing 3.90-4.15, bill 1.45-1.60, tarsus 1.30-1.40." (Bailey) Nest: Of coarse grass 

 and reeds, sometimes on the ground and sometimes woven into the tules, usually 

 cleverly concealed. Eggs: 7 to iz, pale buff to white, irregularly spotted with vary- 

 ing shades of brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from southern Canada to Lower California, Utah, 

 Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, Ohio Valley, and New Jersey. Winters south to 

 Central America. In Oregon: Rarely observed summer resident. Scattered records 

 throughout State. Most frequently seen in Klamath and Harney Counties. Winters 

 in western Oregon at least occasionally. 



NEWBERRY (1857) reported the Virginia Rail as common in Oregon, but 

 Mearns (1879) recorded the first known specimen taken in the State, from 

 Fort Klamath, July 2., 1875. Since that time it has been reported by 

 various students in Washington, Lincoln, Yamhill, Marion, Benton, Lane, 

 Clackamas, and Multnomah Counties in western Oregon, and from Baker, 

 Malheur, and Klamath Counties east of the Cascades. Our own notes are 

 quite fragmentary, but we have seen it in Tillamook (February 5 and 

 November 2.6), Harney (August 2.9), Wallowa (June 14), Klamath (April 

 12. and September 16), and Multnomah (January 19 and August 10) 

 Counties. The last date is the only record of special interest. On that 

 day (August 10, 1914) Jewett saw an adult and a small downy young at 

 Reed College Lake on the Eastmoreland Golf Course at Portland. Patter- 

 son reported nests found in Klamath County on May 8, 16, and 2.3, 192.4, 

 and Braly took two nests at Fort Klamath on May 14 and 16, 1930. 



This medium-sized rail is undoubtedly much more common in Oregon 

 than either the literature or our notes indicate. It is exceedingly difficult 

 to observe unless an intensive search is made of its haunts. It is flushed 

 only by accident and can run through the dense jungles of aquatic vege- 

 tation, in which it delights to live, at an astonishing rate. Its thin, 

 flattened body is eminently suited to working through the thick grass, 

 and its strong legs and big feet are able to carry it fast enough to outrun 

 a dog. The startling cries and noises produced by this small bird are one 



