60 BIRDS OF OHIO. 



The Sofa is a fairly common inhabitant of the marshes 

 and wet meadows wherever they occur in the state. It ap- 

 pears to be a little less numerous south than north. It fre- 

 quently nests in wet meadows or in the tall grass bordering 

 ditches. During the migrations it not infrequently strikes 

 buildings or wires or other obstructions, and is either killed 

 or hurt or dazed and is brought to notice more frequently 

 than any of the other rails in this way. One that had been 

 injured in the breast was found in the court of Peters Hall, 

 Oberlin, when the building was opened in the morning. 

 There had been no open doors or windows, nor any broken 

 window where it might have entered. Its appearance there 

 could not be accounted for unless it had squeezed under a 

 door in the basement. 



The Sora reaches Oberlin shortly after the first of May, 

 according to my records. It probably arrives earlier but is 

 unnoticed at first. I have no records of its departure south- 

 ward, but since the date of capture of the one mentioned 

 above was October 23, 1896, it seems likely that the depart- 

 ure is not far from that date. 



73. (215.) PORZANA NOVEBORACENSIS (Gmel.). 234. 



Yellow Rail. 

 Synonyms: Rallus noveboracensis, Fulica noveboracensis. 



Yellow-breasted Rail, Upland Rail, Yellow Crake, Little 



Yellow Rail. 

 Kirtland, Ohio Geol. Surv., 1838, 165, 185. 



This little rail is reported as rare in the six *counties 

 where it has been found. There is good reason to believe 

 that it is much more numerous than the records show, be- 

 cause it is both so small and so hard to flush from its reedy 

 retreats that we almost never see it. Systematic search 

 should reveal it in many localities where it has never been 

 seen. 



I can find no records of nests actually found within the 

 state, but the dates upon which many specimens have been 

 found clearly indicate that this rail breeds in the northern 

 part of the state at least. 



*Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Hamilton, Lorain, Portage. 



