RALLID^ THE— RAILS, GALLINULES, AND COOTS. Uo 



Porzana noveboracensis (Gmel.) 



YELLOW KAIL. 



Popular synonym. Little Yellow Rail. 



Fulica noveboracpiisiii Gmel. S. N. i,pt. ii, 1783, 701. 



Ortygometra noveboracensis Stephens, 1824.— Aud. Synop.1830, 213; B. Am. v, 1842, 152, 



pi. 307. 

 Mallus noveboracensis Bonap. 1827; Am. Orn. iv, 1832, 13(5, pi. 27, fig. 2.— Nutt. Man. ii, 



1834. 215.— Sw. & Rich. F. B. A. ii, 1831, 402.-AuD. Orn. Biog. iv, 1838, 251, pi. 320. 

 Porzana noveboracensis Cass, in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 750.— Baieu, Cat. N. Am. B. 

 1859, No. 557.— CouES,Key,lb.72, 274; Check List, 1873,No. 469; 2d ed. 1882, No. 680; Birds 

 N. W. 1874, 539.-RiDG'W. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881. No. 575; Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 140.— A. 

 O. U. Check List, 1886, No. 215. 

 "Porzana jamaicensis (?)" (error) Ridgw. Orn. 40th Par. Exp. 1877, 613 (Nevada and 

 Utah).i 



Hab. Eastern North America, north to Hudson's Bay, Nova Scotia, west to Utah and 

 Nevada. No extralimital record except Cuba and the Bermudas. 



Sp. Chak. Adult. Yellowish ochraceous, very glossy above, where broadly striped 

 with black, the black intersected by narrow bars of white; belly whitish; flanks dusky 

 narrowly barred with white; crissum light cinnamon; axillars, Uning of wing, and exposed 

 portion of secondaries, white. "Bill greenish black, with the base dull yellowish orange: 

 Iris hazel; feet and claws light flesh-color" (Audubon). Total length about 6.00 inches; 

 wing 3.00-3.50; culmen, .50.55; tarsus, .90-1.00; middle toe, .90. 



There is considerable individual variation, both in size anfl 

 markings, even among specimens from the same locality. 



Although very rarely seen, on account of its skulking habits 

 and extreme reluctance to take wing, the little Yellow Rail is 

 not an uncommon bird in Illinois. Mr. Nelson gives it as "not 

 very rare" in Cook county, where it arrives early in May. Sev- 

 eral specimens, he says, are taken each spring, before the grass 

 becomes sufficiently high to effectually conceal them. The 

 National Museum possesses its eggs from Winnebago, taken by 

 Mr. J. W. Tolman, thus proving that it breeds in the northern 

 part of the State. 



1 The small Rail referred by me, with great hesitation, to P. jamaicensis, in 

 my "Report of the Ornithology of the Fortieth Parallel Expedition" (Vol. IV., Pt. iii, p. 61.3), 

 was undoubtedly this species, which is the only one showing white along the hinder margin 

 of the wing— a peculiarity noted of the birds observed. The apparently "blackish color" 

 was due to imperfect observation. 



