134 



a medium sized depression for the eggs. In the spring of 1875, the 

 sudden rise of the water in the sloughs in this vicinity flooded a great 

 many water bird's nests, and among them Carolina rail's nests. Vis- 

 iting the marshes soon after, I found that in every rail's nest that had 

 been flooded the eggs had been broken by the rail piercing the side 

 with her, beak. In one instance the bird was found beside the nest, 

 and when I looked at the eggs I found a portion of them broken and 

 the contents still oozing out. I found that the coots (Fulica ameri- 

 canay and the gallinules had the same habit when their nests were 

 destroyed by the water, although it was less common with them than 

 with the rail. In autumn great numbers of these birds frequent the 

 floating weeds along the borders of rivers where they are sometimes 

 in such numbers that several may be killed at a single discharge. Dr. 

 Bannister informs me that he has found quite a number of these 

 birds lying dead, but without showing marks of injury, upon railroad 

 tra'cks. 



248. P. noveboracensis (7cm. LITTLK YELLOW RAIL. Not very 

 rare. Arrives early in May. Several specimens are taken each spring 

 before the grass becomes sufficiently high to effectually conceal them. 

 It undoubtedly breeds here, since the Smithsonian possesses a set of 

 six eggs taken with the parent bird, May 17, by Mr. J. W. Tolinan, at 

 Winnebago, Illinois (tide, Prof. S. F. Baird in epist.). The following 

 is the description of the above set of eggs from Coues's "Birds of 

 the North-west" : "They are the only ones I have seen and differ from 

 all those of P. Carolina in the color of the ground, which is a rich, 

 warm bnfly-brown marked at the great end with a cluster of reddish- 

 chocolate dots and spots. Size, 1.15 by 0'85 to 1-05 by -80." 



249. P. jamaicensis Cass. LITTLE BLACK KAIL. Like the pre- 

 ceding, of not very rare occurrence. Breeds. During the spring of 

 1875 I saw three specimens in the Calumet Marshes. The first was 

 observed early in May. On the lath of June, the same season, while 

 collecting with me near the Calumet River, Mr. Frank DeVVitt, of 

 Chicago, was fortunate enough to discover a nest of this species con- 

 taining ten freshly laid eggs. The nest was placed in a deep cup- 

 shaped depression in a perfectly open situation on the border of a 

 marshy spot, and its only concealment was such as a few straggling 

 carices afforded. It is composed of soft grass blades loosely inter- 

 woven in a circular manner. The nest, in shape and construction, 

 looks much like that of a meadow lark. The following are its dimen- 

 sions in inches: inside depth, 2-30; inside diameter, 3-25; outside 

 depth, 3-50; outside diameter, 4-50. The eggs are a creamy- white 

 instead of clear white, as I stated in a recent article (Bull. Nutt. Orn. 

 Club, Vol. I, p. 43), and average TOO by -81 inches. They are nearly 

 perfectly oval, and are thinly sprinkled with fine reddish-brown dots, 



