G2 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Notes on the Common Rail. 



TN the border marshes of Oneida couuty, 

 ■*- the little Sora is very abundant and in 

 shooting season forms one of the best game 

 birds we have. The sport of shooting Rail 

 has its fascinations, and is doubtless the 

 best practice an amauter could have, Avhile 

 tlie birds, Avhen procured in sufficient num- 

 bers, make up a dish that for flavor and 

 juiciness is unsurpassed by any other small 

 bird. In the fall, when the reeds are flush 

 and the water not too higli, the Sora, in 

 company with the Virginia and Mud Rails, 

 frequents the marshes in large numbers, and 

 from their habit of searching food separate- 

 ly, the sportsman rarely experiences diffi- 

 culty in finding birds in almost any spot he 

 cliooses to commence his operations. With 

 a good spaniel, they are easily flushed, 

 though at times they lie very close, and not 

 luicommonly a stone, if cast near them, will 

 be quite effectual iu obtaining one a good 

 shot. 



In marshes where the reeds are quite thin, 

 they may otten be seen running swiftly over 

 the bent stems of the rushes, with head 

 down, intently regarding both plant and 

 water, and occasionally, aye, frequently, 

 stopping to pluck an insect from a neighbor- 

 ing stem, or dropping into the water below 

 lor the same purpose. If an intruder be ob- 

 served while on its rambles j it gives a pre- 

 liminary quirt of the tail, and is gone like 

 a flash, the last seen of it being a doubtful 

 form Avinding a very crooked way through 

 the rushes, leaving a few stems still quiv- 

 ering to mark its path. Very probably the 

 same bird will, a moment after, be looking 

 upon yovi from the depths of the reedy for- 

 est in a direction nearly opposite its hasty 

 retreat. AVhen running low down and near- 

 ly at the surface of the water, it often de- 

 ceives one with the impression that it is a 

 water rat. Its movements are perfectly 

 noiseless, and, as the farmer said of his mule, 

 '^nighty uncertaia," the sportsman often, 

 after having fired his gun at what he sup- 

 posed was a Rail, finding nothing but a 

 bunch of shattered reeds or a shivered stick 



to account for his shot. Its flight is low, 

 being seldom at any height above the tops 

 of the reeds, and unless badly frightened, 

 of short duration. Ordinarily, the shot is 

 an easy one, but the bird has a habit of sud- 

 denly wheeling and flying at right angles 

 with its former course, or dropping into the 

 rushes as if shot, often in the latter case, 

 causing the sportsman after he had fired to 

 suppose that such really was the fact. 



The Common Rail builds its frail nest 

 among the reeds, in the thickest, though 

 not necessarily wettest portions of the marsh, 

 and lays from five to ten eggs, of a light 

 buff* color, spotted Avith fine dots of black. 

 When the nest is discovered, the female 

 quietly slips from her eggs and glides off" 

 through the rushes, but she always sits 

 close, and will not get up until certain that 

 she is seen. Avis. 



I We see the announcement of the addition 



\ to our avi-fauna, of five species of birds, by 

 Dr. J. C. Merrill, of Fort Brown, Texas. 

 These birds formerly were supposed to in- 

 habit this locality, but sufficient evidence of 

 their actual occurrence there not being es- 

 tablished, they were considered as either 



; extra-limital or extraneous, and were not 

 enumerated in the list of North American 

 birds. AVith the addition of these, the num- 

 ber of birds now inhabiting North America 

 is augmented to about 770 species, includ- 

 ing varieties. The birds discovered are : 



I Molothrm ceneuH^ a species of Cow-bird, — 



■ Nydidromus albicoUis, a species allied to, 

 or included in the Gcq^rimulgidce, — Pyrrlio- 

 phcena riefferi, a Humming Bird, — Farra 

 gymnostoina, a peculiar species allied to the 



I BaUidce, with long toes and wing-spurs, — 

 PocHcejjs dominicns, a small Grebe or Div- 



' er, and more recently an additional species 

 of Humming Bird. 



I -^.^ 



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 devoted to pet-stock and birds, is at hand. 



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