468 ZOOLOGY— BIRDS. 



The banks of the Rio Grande in Colorado furnish an autumnal home 

 for thousands of these birds. Farther down in New Mexico, late in Novem- 

 ber, we found the banks of the river at certain points between Fort Craig 

 and Albuquerque dotted with the forms of these huge birds, which had 

 assembled together in large flocks, drawn by the superior attractions of the 

 region as a winter resort. They appeared very restless ; now and then 

 detachments of a dozen or twenty members separating themselves from the 

 main body, as they fed among- the marshy shallows, and shifting their ground 

 from one point along the stream to another, or leaving it altogether, and 

 wending their way in Indian file toward the stubble fields, a mile or so away. 



Fam. RALLIDAE: Rails. 



RALLUS VIRGIN I ANUS, Linn. 



Virginia Rail. 



Rallus virginianus, Ltnn., Syst. Nat., i, 1766, '263. — Woodh., Sitgreave's Exp. Zufii & 

 ' Col. Riv., 1S54, 1(17.— XEffn., P. R. R. Rep., vi, 1857, 96.— Bd., Birds N. A., 

 1S5S, 748.— Xantus, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliila.. 1839, 192 (Fort Tejon, 

 Cal.).— Bd., U. S. & Mex. Bound. Surv., ii, pt. ii, 1859, Birds, 26.— Heerm., 

 P. R, R. Rep., x, pt. iv, 1859, 62.— Henry, Proc. Acad. Nat, Sci. Phila., 1S59, 

 118 (New Mexico).— Coop. & Suckl., P. R, R, Rep., xii, pt. ii, 1869, 247.— 

 Coues, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1866, 98. — Allen, Bui. Mas. Comp. Zool., 

 iii, 1872, 182 (Eastern Kansas). — Coues, Key N. A. Birds, 1872, ^73. — Snow, 

 Birds Kan., 1872, 14.— Aiken, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., 1872, 210 (Colorado, 

 breeding). — Yarrow& Henshaw, Rep. Orn. Specs., 1872, Wheeler's Exped., 

 1S74, 31.— Henshaw, Rep. Orn. Specs., 1873, Wheeler's Exped., 1874, 69, 

 146. — Allen, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., June, 1874, 37. — Coues, Birds 

 Northwest, 1S74, 536. 



The Virginia Rail appears to inhabit nearly or quite all the marshes 

 and reedy borders of the ponds and lakes of Utah. It has been met with 

 by our parties in Colorado, and also in Arizona. In fact, only the presence 

 of a few yards of grassy swamp land by the side of pond or running stream 

 is needed to insure the presence of this bird. 



PORZANA CAROLINA (Linn.). 



Carolina Rail. 



Rallus carolinus, Linn., Syst. Nat., i, 1766, 253. 



Ortygomctra Carolina, Woodh., Sitgreave's Exp. Zufii & Col. Riv., 1S54, 101. 



