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iilllKa;! 



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ALKCTORIDKS. 



It has also beon taken in the HtTiuudas. Major Woddprbuni met with it in the 

 rciubroki! Marsh, ^'ov. 19, 1847. Ik' saw aiiotiuT in the sanit; piiict-, in Uctober, t\u- 

 lullowinj,' yi'ar; a third soon alter at the Shiici- J'onds ; and Mi: llurdis i)rociircil 

 OUL", Nov. 1(», l.Sili, also at I'cniltrokt' Marsh. 



It has only recently been credited with a New England residence. Mr. .).][. IJatty 

 informs nu' that he has taken it in Connecticnt. ile says: "1 have never taken but 

 two of this species. I shot them both in a I'resh-water marsh, several years ago, at 

 Ilazardville. ("onn. I had never observed them before that tinn-. nor have I met 

 with them since. They were breeding, as 1 saw .several of their yonng, and caught one 

 of them, which I examined and let go again. This' was in the latter part of .Jnnc." 

 It has since been recorded by Mr. 11. A. J'ludie as taken at Saybrook, Conn., on tii- 

 anthority of Mr. .1. II. Clark, who wrote hi.a that a neighbor of his, while mowing at 

 that ])lace. Jnly lO, liSTC), swung his scythe Mver a nest of ten eggs on which the binl 

 was sitting, cutting off the bird's head and br.'aking all but foni- of the eggs. It has 

 also recently been reetirded from Clark's Island, I'lynunith Harbor, Mass., where a 

 specimen was obtained in Angnst, iSIJi*. 



Mr. Nelson ud'ers to the Little lUack Kail as a species of not very rare occurrenco 

 in Northern Illinois, wla'i'e it breeds. During the spring of 1875 he nu't with tiini' 

 specimens in the Calinnet marshes; the first was sei-n early in ^lay. In the saiac 

 season, on the iDth of June. Mr. Nelson states that .Mr. Frank De Witt, while collect- 

 ing with him near the Calumet IJiver, was so fortunate as to discover a nest of this 

 si)eeies that contained ten freshly laid eggs. The nest had been constrncted in a deep 

 cni)-shaped depressicm in a perfectly ojten situation on the border of a marshy spot. 

 and its only eonceahnent was that furnished by a few straggling ('nrlrcs. It was com- 

 l)osed of soft grass-blades, loustdy inti'rwoven in a rounded shajic. The nest, in its 

 form and manner of construction, was similar to that of a .Meadow-lark. Mr. Nelson 

 describes it as having an inside dejjth of 1^.50 imdies ; inside diameter. .'I.L'o; outsiilc 

 depth, 3.50 ; outside diameter, 4.50. The eggs are saiil to be of a creamy white. 

 and to aver.age 1.00 inch by .81, being of a lu'arly jterfect oval, and thinly sprinkled 

 with tine reddish-brown dot.s, which becomi' larger and more nunu'rons toward the 

 larger end. Minute shell-markings in the form of dots were also visible. I'robably 

 in consetpu'uce of the small size of the depression in which the nest was inclosed, tlic 

 eggs were in two layers. 



Mr. Henshaw states that this Kail a])iiears to be as numerous in California as in 

 anj' other i)art of its habitat. I'rom information given by ]\Ir. (jnd)er, he judges it 

 to be rather (common in the extensive tide swani])s of that State. It has also liem 

 found by Mr. (Jruher on the Farallon Islands. Its small size and skulking habits, as 

 well as the nature of its swampy retreat, render the ])rocuring of specimens dittieult. 

 Mr. Mathewson informed Dr. Cooper that he has frecpiently obtained it at Martinez 

 in the fall and in winter. 



Dr. James Trndeau informed Mr. Audidwn that this species arrives in Louisiana, 

 in company with the Yellow-breasted Rail, about the end of October, and is very 

 common in marshes in the vicinity of woods. It migrates northward in the begin- 

 ning of March, and a great luimber of this species are said to breed in the vicinity 

 of Salem, N. J. 



An egg in my collection, obtained by Mr. Ashmead in the neighborhood of riiilu- 

 delphia, and given me by Mr. Cassin (No. 5G4), has a ground-color of a light cream 

 or creamy white, over which are generally distributed fine markings or minute specks 

 of a brownish red ; these are most numerous at the larger end. The Qg^ is oval in 

 shape, is tapering at one end, and measures 1.00 inch in length by .75 in breadth. 



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