214 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



secretive. As it was found nesting in Maine by Boardman, it 

 is not improbable that it may yet be known to breed in other 

 New England States. It is even more reluctant than the 

 other Rails to take wing; hence it is seen rarely, but is some- 

 times caught by dogs and cats. When forced to take wing it 

 flies in the same hesitating, fluttering manner as the other 

 Rails, but rather swifter and sometimes to a considerable 

 distance. It can swim and dive well in case of necessity. 



A Rail which was not seen, but often heard, near Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., in 1889,^ was believed to be the Black Rail. 

 This peculiar note was heard by Brewster and other orni- 

 thologists in Concord, Sudbury, Falmouth and other localities 

 at dates between 1889 and 1901, and the bird was believed to 

 have bred in Cambridge in 1889. It was locally known as the 

 "kicker," and, according to Brewster, it commonly cried Mk, 

 kik, kik, queeah; kik-kik-kik-ki-queeah; kik-ki-ki-ki, ki-queeah; 

 klc-kic, klc-kic, kw-kic-ki-queeah. This does not agree with the 

 notes given by Wayne, who actually saw and took both the 

 male and female Black Rail in South CaroHna, and listened 

 to their cries for more than an hour. The notes given by Mr. 

 J. H. Ames for the Yellow Rail rather closely resemble those 

 credited to that ornithological mystery the "kicker." As Mr. 

 Ames kept his Rail alive and saw it utter its notes, he cannot 

 well be mistaken. 



Wayne states that in South Carolina he found it nearly 

 impossible to flush these birds with a dog when their only 

 cover was short dead grass. His dog caught nine and flushed 

 but one. Fresh-water snails were found in their stomachs. 



> Brewster, William: Auk, 1901, pp. 321-328. 



