60 General Notes. 



picious and easy to secure, as the Red-breasted Snipe usually is. They 

 arrive in his locality about May 1, and linger until about the 20th of the 

 month. The flocks are small, generally of from six to fifteen individuals, 

 among which the males outnumber the females by twenty to one. The 

 specimens from which the following measurements were taken were shot. 

 May 7-19, on a small pond covering some twenty acres near Vermilion. 



Measurements of Limosa hcemastica. 



The Black Rail (^Porzana jamaicensis) in Kansas. — As the occur- 

 rence of this rare little bird in Kansas rests upon a single specimen ob- 

 served by Mr. J. A. Allen, I think its further discovery in the State may 

 be of interest. May 3, 1879, a boy brought me a female, caught about 

 two miles from this place, while burning off the grass on the upland prai- 

 rie, but near a narrow strip of marshy land ; the bird was driven by the 

 fire to the burnt land, and was too much exhausted or frightened to attempt 

 to fly or run away from him. The body was so badly injured before reach- 

 ing me (probably stepped upon) that I was unable to preserve the skin, but 

 saved the head, wings, legs, and feet. On dissection I noticed several of 

 the ova were enlarged from their normal condition up to the size of No. 4 

 shot. 



On the 18th of June, 1879, Prof. H. E. YanDeman, of the State Agri- 

 cultural College, kindly sent me a female which he caught in his hands, 

 near Beloit, Mitchell County, on the high prairie where water occasionally 



