THE YELLOW RAIL. 475 



average size is about 1.26 by 1.92 (Cambridge and Need- 

 ham, Mass.). 



After leaving New England and other northern breeding- 

 places, this species congregates in great numbers on the 

 shores of some of the southern streams and bays, where 

 they furnish much sport to the gunners of those localities. 



PORZANA NOVEBORACENSIS. 

 The Yellow Kail. 



Ortygometra Noveboracensis, Audubon. Birds Am., V. (1842) 152. 

 Rallus Naceboracensis Audubon. Orn. Biog., IV. (1838) 251. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Entire upper parts ochre-yellow, with longitudinal wide stripes of brownish-black 

 and transverse narrow stripes of white; neck and breast reddish ochre-yellow; 

 many feathers tipped with brown; middle of abdomen white; flanks and ventral 

 region with wide transverse bands of dark reddish-brown and narrow bands of 

 white; under tail coverts rufous, with small spots of white; under wing coverts 

 white; iris hazel. 



Total length (from tip of bill to end of tail), about six inches; wing, three and a 

 quarter; tail, one and three-quarters inches. 



This beautiful bird is an exceedingly rare spring and 

 autumn visitor in New England. I have, in a number of 

 years' shooting, been able' to procure but two ; and have 

 not heard of more than two or three more being taken here. 

 It has all the characteristics of the other species, but prefers 

 the fresh-water meadows to the salt marshes. 1 Dr. Richard- 

 son, in his " Northern Zoology," says, " This elegant bird 

 is an inhabitant of the marshes on the coast of Hudson's 

 Bay, near the mouth of the Severn River, from the middle 

 of May to the end of September. It never flies above 

 sixty yards at a time, but runs with great rapidity among 

 the long grass near the shores. In the morning and evening, 

 it utters a note which resembles the striking of a flint and 

 steel : at other times, it makes a shrieking noise. It builds 

 no nest, but lays from ten to sixteen white eggs among the 

 grass." 



1 The specimens that I procured were found in fresh-water meadows early in 

 September. 



