308 



THE OOLOGIST 



Nesting of the Virginia and Sora Rails 

 In Pennsylvania. 



The status of these two birds seems 

 to be very much of a problem to Penn- 

 sylvania Ornithologists. Their secre- 

 tive habits, their miry haunts and 

 their disinclination to flush all con- 

 spire to make them among the least 

 known of our Pennsylvania birds. The 

 Virginia Rail has been taken as a 

 breeder at various places in the east- 

 ern part of the state by Thos. Jackson, 

 Isaac Reiff, Dr. Hughes, J. Harris Reed 

 and others and more recently by Rich 

 ard T. Miller and it seems to be a 

 regular though undoubtedly scarce 

 summer resident at suitable places in 

 the Delaware Valley. The Sora how- 

 ever, has very few authentic breeding 

 records in the state and this article is 

 written with a view to adding more 

 light on both these birds as well as 

 recording them as breeding in a new 

 locality — Center County — at an eleva- 

 tion of 1200 feet and in the heart of 

 the Pennsylvania Mountains. 



The swamp where the Rails breed 

 is about two miles east from State Col- 

 lege and about five acres in extent. 

 All through the spring of 1909, the 

 presence of Rails made us hopeful 

 that they might nest there along with 

 a pair of American Bittern and small 

 numbers of Swamp Sparrows. The 

 Bitterns were later shot and our hopes 

 as to their nest dashed, but the Rails 

 stayed on and when May 29th still 

 found them present, we decided to in- 

 vestigate at an early date. On this 

 trip we also saw and identified sev- 

 eral Short Billed Marsh Wrens but on 

 subsequent trips we were unable to 

 locate them. On June 7th we set out 

 to look for the Rails nests and the re- 

 sults I have copied exactly as they 

 were written up in my note book: 



"June 7, 1909. This afternoon Fos- 

 ter White and I started for the Center 



Furnace swamp where we saw the 

 Rails and Marsh Wrens on May 29. 

 On our way down we stopped at the 

 spring and I found a Baltimore Ori- 

 ole's nest ten feet up at the end of a 

 willow limb and holding three fresh 

 eggs. In some sheds several Barn 

 Swallows' nests were found, some in- 

 complete and some with young. In 

 the Center Furnace woods, I saw a 

 Cooper's Hawk and after looking about 

 found her nest 40 feet up in the triple 

 crotch of a Scarlet Oak but when the 

 tree was climbed an empty nest re- 

 warded my gaze. I had secured a set 

 from this woods in early May. 



"We then entered the swamp and 

 though no Marsh Wrens were seen, I 

 was agreeably surprised at our luck 

 with the Rails. We saw several of 

 these, both Virginia's and Sora's and 

 several were flushed from their nest. 

 As I looked about I suddenly came on 

 a nest of the Virginia Rail containing 

 ten eggs. The nest was a frail struc- 

 ture of Marsh grass placed under a 

 tussock and cunningly hidden. The 

 bird was flushed about ten yards away. 



"About twenty yards away, I found 

 a nest of the Sora Rail in the midst 

 of a grass tussock. It also held ten 

 eggs, quite distinct from those of the 

 Virginia. The nest was cunningly con- 

 cealed in the center of a grass tussock 

 about three inches deep. Several of 

 the eggs laid on top of the main layer. 

 Not far from here I found an incom- 

 plete nest of the Virginia as well as 

 one of the Sora. Down in the east end 

 of the swamp I flushed a Sora and sev- 

 eral yards away, I found her nest in 

 a tussock, poorly concealed and some- 

 what in the open. It held one fresh 

 egg (afterward destroyed by a Snap- 

 ping Turtle.) Not far from here, a 

 Sora rushed hurriedly off her nest and 

 in a moment I had parted the grass 

 and was looking in on six hatching 



