674 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



*77. (212). Rallus virginianus (LINN.). 



Virginia Bail. 



Coloration, exactly as in elegans, of which, it is a perfect miniature. 



Length, 8.12-10.50; wing, 3.90-4.25; bill, 1.45-1.60; tarsus, 1.30- 

 1.40. 



EANGE. North America, from Guatemala and Cuba, north to Brit- 

 ish Columbia and Hudson Bay. Breeds from Pennsylvania and Indi- 

 ana (Florida, Davie), northward. Winters from southern Illinois 

 southward. 



Nest, on ground, in marsh near water, of reeds and rushes. Eggs, 

 6-12; buff or cream; 1.24 by .94. 



Rather common migrant, most numerous in spring; summer resi- 

 dent in some numbers locally, principally northward. 



They begin to arrive from the south from April 20 to May 10, de- 

 pending upon the lateness or earliness of the season, and there is but 

 little difference between the time of their arrival near the Ohio Eiver 

 and at Lake Michigan. They migrate, as all Rails do, by night, and do 

 not linger long by the way. The earliest spring records are: April 20, 

 1888, at Brookville, and April 20, 1897, Lake County (Parker). In 

 Lake County they are not nearly so common as the Sora, but still are 

 not rare about the lakes (Parker). In the same county Mr. C. E. Aiken 

 noted it breeding, but not abundantly. In Dekalb County, Mr. J. 0. 

 Snyder says it breeds; while both are common, Sora is most common. 

 In Steuben County it is abundant. Mr. C. L. Barber says it breeds 

 in Laporte County. Mr. H. W. McBride found it breeding in Elkhart 

 County, May 19, 1890. 



At English Lake, Mr. Deane tells me, they are not common and are 

 not found with the Soras. This habit of choosing a locality not fre- 

 quented by the Soras is often noted. Mr. William S. Perry found 

 them as common as the Sora in April, 1885, in the Kankakee marsh. 

 (See Yellow Rail). 



In the fall they go as they came by night. While many start 

 ahead, the bulk of them go at one time. One day the marshes are full 

 of their noisy notes. A heavy frost comes and the reeds are deserted. 

 The noticeable scarcity of Virginia Rails in the fall impresses all who 

 have observed them. Their fall records are exceedingly few. They 

 seem to all leave the first half of September. Mr. Deane, writing con- 

 cerning English Lake, says: "We never get the Virginia Rail in the 

 fall. I have examined a good many bags of small Rail in August and 

 September, and have killed as many as eighty in a. morning, and no 

 Virginias taken." They frequent overflowed meadows and marshes, 



