Plate LXIV. 



Fig. 6. RALLUS VIRGINIANUS-Virginia Rail. 



^ The Virginia Rail, though not as common as the Carolina Rail, is still quite plentiful throughout 

 Ohio during the periods of its migration, and even during the summer it may be found in suitable localities 

 from the central portions of the state northward, while to the south it occurs with less regularity. At 

 Circleville it arrives in March and April, and is common until late in May; at this time it mostly 

 disappears. The few remaining begin nesting early in June, and rear but a single brood during the 

 season. In September it begins to arrive from the north, and by October is again common. A few cold 

 nights at this season hurries it southward, but stragglers are occasionally found as late as December. 



LOCALITY: 



Large, bushy swamps, and wet meadows overgrown with rank grass, and dotted occasionally with 

 clumps of rushes, flags, and shrubbery, are the favorite nesting places; but not infrequently a pair of 

 these Rails will choose for their summer home a site bordering a little pond, or even a boggy bit of ground 

 but a few feet in diameter at the source of some neglected spring. 



POSITION : 



The nest is built either upon a little spot of ground or upon a little mat of rubbish which is slightly 

 above the water level, and not much if any effort is made at concealment. 



MATERIALS : 



The materials of construction consist of grass, weeds, bits of flag, and strips of rushes loosely and 

 poorly matted together. It resembles closely the nest of the Sora Rail, and is built upon the same plan 

 as the nests of the allied aquatic birds. 



EGGS: 



The complement of eggs varies from six to ten, eight or nine being the usual number. They 

 measure in long-diameter from 1.15 to 1.30, and in short-diameter from .83 to .93. A common size is 

 .88 by 1.24. The ground-color of the shell is faint yellow-brown, fading somewhat after the eggs are 

 blown. The markings consist of reddish-brown, almost pure burnt-umber, blotches, spots, and speckles. 

 They are distributed chiefly about the larger end, the pointed half of the egg being comparatively immaculate. 

 Exceptionally an egg is quite uniformly marked from point to base. Generally there are a number of 

 deep shell-marks, they are violet-grey in appearance, and often have surface marks superposed on them. 



DIFFERENTIAL POINTS: 



The Virginia Rail, the Carolina Rail, and the Red-breasted Rail are the only species of the family 



275 



