RAILS, GALLINULES, AND COOTS. 143 



214. Porzana Carolina (Linn.). SOKA ; CAROLINA EAIL. (See Fig. 

 22, c.) Ad. Kegion about the base of the bill, center of crown, and a lino 

 down the middle of the neck black ; rest of the breast and throat, sides of 

 the head, and front part of the crown pule blue-gray ; rest of the upper parts 

 olive-brown, most of the feathers with black centers, the scapulars and back 

 streaked on either side with white; wings fuscous- brown, their coverts gray- 

 ish cinnamon, outer edge of first primary white ; lower belly white, flanks 

 barred with black and white. Im. Similar, but without black at the base 

 of the bill or on the throat ; breast washed with cinnamon and upper parts 

 darker. L., 8-50; W., 4-30; Tar., 1-30; B., -80. 



Range. Breeds from Kansas, Illinois, and Long Island northward to 

 Hudson Bay ; winters from South Carolina to northern South America. 



Washington, common T. V., Mch. ; July to Nov. Long Island, com- 

 mon T. V., Apl. and May; Aug. to Oct.; rare S. E. Sing Sing, common 

 T. V., May ; Aug. 19 to Oct. 24. Cambridge, very common S. B., Apl. 20 to 

 Oct. 20. 



Nest, of grasses, on the ground in marshes. Eggg, eight to fifteen, buffy 

 white or ochraceous-buff, spotted and speckled with rufous-brown, 1-24 x -90. 



The Soras' summer home is in fresh-water marshes, where, if it 

 were not for their notes, the reeds and grasses would long keep the 

 secret of their presence. But knowing their calls, you have only to 

 pass a May or June evening near a marsh to learn whether they in- 

 habit it. If there, they will greet you late in the afternoon with a 

 clear whistled ker-wee, which soon comes from dozens of invisible 

 birds about you, and long after night has fallen it continues like a 

 springtime chorus of piping hylas. Now and again it is interrupted 

 by a high-voiced, rolling whinny which, like a call of alarm, is taken 

 up and repeated by different birds all over the marsh. 



They seem so absorbed by their musical devotions that even when 

 calling continuously it requires endless patience and keen eyes to see 

 the dull-colored, motionless forms in places where one would not sup- 

 pose there was sufficient growth to conceal them. 



Floating silently near the shore on my back in a canoe, I have seen 

 them venture out to feed. With tails erect they step gingerly along, 

 evidently aware of their exposed position, for on the least alarm they 

 dart back to cover. Sometimes they cross small streams by swim- 

 ming, and they are expert divers. 



In the fall they gather in the wild-rice or wild-oat (Zizania aquat- 

 ica) marshes, and a well-directed stone or unusual noise may bring a 

 series of protesting interrogative kuks or peeps from the apparently 

 deserted reeds. At this season "gunners" in small flat-bottomed 

 boats are poled through the flooded meadows, and the Soras, waiting 

 until the last moment, rise on feeble wing a mark which few can 

 miss. Numerous puffs of smoke float over the tall grasses, and the 

 dull reports come booming across the marsh with fateful frequency. 



