2»2 



The Water-fowl Family 



of neck, dusky, slightly streaked with olive ; a brownish white 

 supraloral stripe ; side of head, plumbeous ; fore neck, breast, 

 sides, and abdomen, cinnamon ; flanks dusky, barred with white ; 

 bill, orange-red, marked with brown in front of the nostril and 

 on base of mandible. 



Young— -Head above and laterally, back anteriorly, rump, breast, 

 and sides, dull black ; wing-coverts and wings, similar to adult ; 

 throat white, finely spotted with black ; lower breast and abdo- 

 men with a few feathers on sides tinged with white; anal 

 region, reddish. 



Downy young — Glossy black ; bill, orange-red, slightly marked with 

 blackish. 



Measurements — Length, 7.50 inches; wing, 4 inches; culmen, 

 1.50 inches ; tarsus, 1.30 inches. 



Eggs — Six to twelve in number, creamy white, marked with small 

 blotches and spots of brownish red, measure 1 .28 by .95 inches. 



Habitat — Breeds from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, probably Virginia 

 and North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Colo- 

 rado, Utah, California, and possibly Nevada and Lower Cali- 

 fornia north to New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, 

 Saskatchewan, and British Columbia, and recorded from Nova 

 Scotia, Newfoundland, Hamilton Inlet, Labrador, and York 

 Factory, Hudson Bay. Winters from Massachusetts rarely, 

 South Carolina regularly, the southern Mississippi states, Colo- 

 rado, Utah, Washington, and British Columbia, south to Florida, 

 Guatemala, and Lower California. Reported also from Cuba, 

 Bermuda, and five hundred miles west of Ireland. 



The Virginia rail is almost a miniature of the 

 king rail and resembles this bird in habits. It is 

 most abundant on the fresh-water marshes of the 

 Western states, especially Michigan, Wisconsin, 

 and Illinois, occurring in large numbers in west- 

 ern Canada. In the favorite resorts of the sora, 

 this species only occurs sparingly. It seems to 

 prefer the marshes less affected by tides where it 



