Rail-shooting 291 



The nest is like that of the other rails, carefully 

 hidden in the grass near some fresh-water marsh, 

 and contains usually six eggs. They resemble 

 those of the common sora rail, but are somewhat 

 smaller and of a buffy brown dotted and spotted 

 with reddish. 



I mention it as a peculiar coincidence that 

 while actually engaged in writing these lines 

 about the little yellow rail a specimen of the bird 

 was brought to me, shot on the Quinnipiac 

 marshes near New Haven, October i, 1902, the 

 only one I have ever seen in the flesh. 



BLACK RAIL 



(Porzana jamaicensis) 



Adult male and female Upper parts, blackish ; back of neck and 

 front of back, dark chestnut, finely speckled and barred with 

 white ; head and under parts, dark slate, paler on the throat ; 

 belly, flanks, and under wing-coverts, barred with white ; quills 

 and tail feathers with white spots ; bill, black ; iris, red ; feet, 

 yellowish green. 



Young Similar, but crown tinged with reddish brown; throat, 

 whitish ; lower parts, ashy. 



Measurements Length, 5.50 inches; wing, 2.75 inches; tarsus, 

 .75 inch ; bill, .50 inch. 



Eggs Six to ten in number, creamy white, finely dotted and spotted 

 with brown, measure I by .80 inch. 



Habitat Breeds in Jamaica, and from North Carolina, at least, 

 north to Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, and Kansas, and 

 probably in Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Min- 

 nesota, Nebraska, Utah (?), Oregon, and California. Winters 

 in Jamaica, in the Gulf states west to Texas and south to 

 Guatemala, in California and Arizona ( ?). Recorded also from 

 Bermuda and Cuba, and Nova Scotia ( ?) . 



