56 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 
by small tidal creeks. It is evidently rare here, for Mr. Frazar shot only 
two specimens, and saw or heard less than half a dozen in all. 
‘** Rails were heard in mangrove swamp on Santa Margarita Island, Mag- 
dalena Island, and for one hundred and twenty miles up the estero. They were 
clapper rails, but whether R. beldingt I cannot say” (Bryant). 
On the basis of this scanty evidence it is impossible to do more than specu- 
late concerning the habits and distribution of Belding’s Rail. The bird is 
apparently confined to the southern half of the Peninsula, for on the northwest 
coast (San Quintin Bay) its place is taken by the California species, Rallus 
obsoletus. ER. beldingt is probably resident wherever found, but as yet even this 
cannot be positively asserted. 
Rallus virginianus Linyv. 
VIRGINIA RAIL. 
Mr. Frazar found the Virginia Rail only at San José del Cabo, where he 
killed a specimen on October 24 and another on November 4. He is very sure 
that he saw three others, the first on October 3, the second on October 6, and 
the third on November 4. The bird has not been previously reported from the 
Cape Region, but “ Mr. Anthony has taken it at San Quintin in winter.’ ! 
It is abundant in the winter months in different parts of Mexico, and it has 
been obtained as far south as Guatemala. In California it is said to occur at 
all seasons of the year, and it may be resident, locally, in Lower California, 
also. 
Porzana carolina (Liywn.). 
Sora. CAROLINA Ral. 
Porzana carolina BEDDING, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., V. 1883, 547 (San José del Cabo); 
VI. 1883, 851 (la Paz and s.). Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., II. 
1889, 270 (San José del Cabo; La Paz). 
Mr. Belding, in his list of birds observed in the “ vicinity of La Paz and 
southward”? between December 15, 1882, and March 23, 1883, mentions the 
Sora as “rarely seen,” and in a paper relating to his experience of the preced- 
ing year he also refers to it incidentally, as one of the birds found between 
April 1 and May 17 in the marsh at San José del Cabo. These allusions, al- 
though vague and unsatisfactory, indicate that at least a few Soras pass the 
winter in the Cape Region, and that others occur there rather late in the spring. 
Mr. Frazar’s experience unfortunately furnishes nothing bearing directly on 
these points, for he met with the Sora only in autumn, at San José del Cabo. 
It was very numerous there during the latter half of September and first ten 
days of October, after which only a few stragglers were noted, the last on Oc- 
1 Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., II. 1889, 270. 
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