230 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Ou the 21st I made mj' last ti'ip when 

 I found eight eggs, not daring to wait 

 for any more eggs as the swale was 

 much frequented by other eggers I 

 shot the old bird and took the eggs. 

 They were all alike, light cream in 

 ground color, finely spotted with light 

 hrown, with lavender shell spots. 

 They were very even in size, measuring 

 about 1.19 X .94 with very light varia- 

 tions. I had both the eggs and bird's 

 skin identified and am sure of the bird. 

 Ernest H. Shokt. 

 Chili, N. Y. 



The Turkey Vulture. 



Tliis large bird breeds throughout all 

 our country, in all suitable places. 

 This bird does considerable damage 

 here at times. They kill a large num- 

 ber of young pigs here every year and 

 when I used to herd my father's sheep 

 they killed lots of young lambs. They 

 all attack young calves. 



I dont know tliat I have ever found a 

 citlf that was killed by the^ birds, 

 but have them with their tails and ears 

 bit oft' by the buzzards and they will 

 sometimes pluck eyes from a cow or 

 horse which is too poor or sick to get 

 up when down and leave the poor ani- 

 mal to face death without an eye. 



The bird does considerable good, but 

 it is so well known there is so use to 

 mention it. They will eat any kind of 

 flesh but prefer it fresh. I have known 

 them to eat each other and they also 

 eat mud and I ^believe can live on it 

 for a long time. I have taken several 

 sets of these birds' eggs this year and I 

 found two of the birds that were tame, 

 I had to pull them off to get the eggs. 



I could write a half a day on this bird 



but for fear of the waste basket I will 



close. Some one tell me if they had to 



lift them from the nest to get the eggs. 



Kit Atkinson. 



Dime Box, Tex. 



The Yellow Rail, Porzana noveboraeensisi 

 (Gmel) in Michigan. 



In a list and article "Family Rallidae 

 in Michigan," in the Oologist of June 

 1888, written by myself (ScoJopax), only 

 a very few lines were devoted to the 

 Yellow Bail as it was unknown to me. 

 Since then considerable time has been 

 given to the various lists published on 

 birds of this state, and also to writing 

 to various collectors regarding its pi-es- . 

 ence here. 



I find in the notes of numerous obser- 

 vers in the state and of the many col- 

 lectors since 1839 that the following- 

 have recorded the species: First 

 Sager's list published in 1889, the first 

 catalogue of birds in the state. Miles 

 also embraces it i860. "Summer so- 

 journer," according to A. H. Boies in 

 his list of Birds of Southern Michigan 

 1875. Covert in his list of '78 says,— 

 "Rare, Nine taken." 



These are the onl^- published lists re- 

 cording it worthy of consideration, 

 excepting Steere's list — Migration of 

 Michigan Birds, 1880, which says, — 

 "breeds." This is unexpected, and as 

 the species has never been found breed- 

 ing by other collectors here, a few lines 

 from Professor Steere would be most 

 acceptable on this question. In my list 

 published by the U. S. Geological 

 and Geographical Survey 1879, the 

 Yellow Rail was embraced on authority 

 accepted, and never till now has my 

 acceptance of the bird as a Michigan 

 species been verified by myself. At 

 dusk on October 19th, as two hunters of 

 renown of this city, Messers. O' Byrne 

 and Francoise were returning from a 

 snipe shoot, they flushed an imature 

 specimen of this interesting little bird 

 from thick grass on low land near 

 water, noticing it flew peculiarly and 

 Avas a bird new to them, they shot it 

 and gave it to me. One mark they 

 noticed iu particular which may be a 

 point of identification when the bii'd is 



