574 YELLOW-BREASTED RAIL. 



The trachea is 3 inches long, much flattened, from 1^ twelfth to 

 1 twelfth in breadth ; the rings feeble, divided as in the Sora Rail, 

 and 120 in number ; bronchi moderate, of 15 half rings. 



This species also I found in the Texas, and from thence to the mouths 

 of the Mississippi. 



YELLOW-BREASTED RAIL. 



Ballus Noveboracensis, Bonap. 



PLATE CCCXXIX. Vol. IV. p. 251. 



Dr Trddeau has favoured me with the following notice respecting 

 this species : — " The Yellow-breasted Rail winters in the Southern 

 States of the Union. It arrives in Louisiana in company with Ballus 

 jamaicensis, about the end of October or the beginning of November. 

 As well as that species it is very common in the marshes in the vicinity 

 of the woods. It is a very difi&cult thing to force either of these two 

 Rails to take flight ; for if chased by a dog, they will only fly when the 

 animal is near catching them. However, it is much easier to kill them 

 at this season of the year than in the spring, in the Northern States. It 

 is there I can say almost impossible to put them up. The reason of 

 this is probably their attachment to their eggs or young ones. Some 

 of them nestle in Louisiana. About the beginning of March, these 

 two species begin to migrate northward. They are to be seen at Sa- 

 lem, in New Jersey, by the end of April. A few of the Yellow-breasts 

 remain there, and a great number of the other species breed. I sup- 

 pose that many proceed as far as Hudson's Bay." 



