276 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



up in a rather shallow, flat motind. The eggs are usual! >- 8 to 1 2 in number, 

 pale grayish or buffy white, spotted with reddish brown and obscure lilac, 

 averaging about 1.25 x .95. Mr Brewster gives us an admirable account 

 of its notes as follows: "About the middle of April we begin to hear in 

 our marshes, usually in the early morning, late afternoon or during cloudy 

 weather, and coming from some briary thicket or bed of matted reeds, a 

 guttural cut, cut, cutta-cutta-cutta repeated at brief intervals, often for 

 hours in succession. This is occasionally interrupted or closely followed 

 by a rapid succession of low, yet penetrating grunts not unlike those of a 

 hungry pig. The Virginia rail is the author of both these sounds, the 

 former appearing to be peculiar to the male and, no doubt, his love song. 

 When heard very near at hand it has a peculiar vibrant quality and seems 

 to issue from the ground directly beneath one's feet. The grunting notes 

 are given by both sexes but, with rare exceptions, only during the breeding 

 season. The female when anxious about her eggs or young also calls ki-ki-ki 

 and sometimes kiu like a Flicker." [Bird-Lore, 4, 2, 47] 



Porzana Carolina (Linnaeus) 

 Carolina Rail or Sora 



Plate 26 



Rallus carolinus Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 10. 1758. 1:153 

 Ortygometra Carolina DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 262, fig. 224 

 Porzana Carolina A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 214 



porzd'na, Ital., name of the European spotted crake; caroli'na, of Carolina 



Description. Upper parts olive-brown, the feathers with blackish 

 centers; back and scapulars streaked with white; forepart of head, chin and 

 throat black; sides of head and neck together with the breast bluish gray; 

 wings dusky brown; the outer edge of first primary white; belly and under 

 tail coverts white, the crissum tinged with rufous; sides and flanks barred 

 with slaty black and white; bill light greenish yellow; legs greenish; iris 

 l:)rown. Young: No black on face, nor bluish slate on foreparts; throat. 

 and belly whitish; neck and breast light olive-brownish. Chicks: Black, 

 with orange beard. 



Range and migration. This species inhabits the nearctic region from 

 about latitude 41 degrees, to Hudson bay and Slave lake, wintering from 



