Rail-shooting 285 



and throat, black; sides of head and neck, jugulum, and breast, 

 plumbeous ; abdomen, white ; flanks barred with white and slate. 



Yoling — Similar, but lores brownish ; chin and throat, whitish ; rest 

 of neck with jugulum and breast, light brown ; bill, greenish 

 yellow, the color deeper in the adult; iris, brown; legs and 

 feet, greenish. 



Downy young — Glossy black, with tuft of stiff, orange feathers on 

 chin ; bill, whitish, maroon at base of marilla ; feet, brown. 



Measurements — Length, 8.50 inches ; wing, 4.25 inches ; tarsus, 

 1.30 inches. 



Eggs — Eight to twenty, light drab marked with small round dark 

 spots, measure 1.38 by .88 inches. 



Habitat — Breeds from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, probably Virginia, 

 Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, and California, and possibly 

 Louisiana, Texas, and Arizona, north to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 Hudson Bay, the Mackenzie River, and northern British Colum- 

 bia, and recorded from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Green- 

 land. Winters from South Carolina regularly, New York rarely, 

 Illinois, Utah (?), and California, south to the West Indies, 

 Central America, and northern South America. Occurs also in 

 Lower California and Bermuda, and has been recorded from 

 England. 



This rail, often called the sora, is the best 

 known of all the species in the Eastern and 

 Middle states, and is abundant on nearly all 

 the marshes of the coast and larger rivers. It 

 has a wide distribution, from as far north as 

 latitude 62°, where it has been taken at Fort 

 Resolution and about the Red River, to Mexico 

 and Central America, passing through the West 

 Indies. The habits of this bird are peculiar. 

 Depending on the protection of the high marsh- 

 grass, the rail seldom take to wing unless forced 

 by circumstances. Undoubtedly its migrations 



