280 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [1895 ° 
Richmond says: “I doubt very much now whether it ever breeds 
here, but it is common in August. Birds have been shot here, 
one on November 8, ’78, by Peter Burger, one on November 
9, 78, by S. F. Baird, and one in March, ’75.” 
Inland, several were shot during the fall of 98, in Dulaney’s 
Valley (Dukehart); at Hagerstown, in October,’79, and Septem- 
ber, ’80 (Small); at “Cumberland during all of April (not seen 
after May 1, as shooting stopped then), and from August to 
October 15, ’94” (Zacharia Laney). 
Porzana noveboracensis (215). Yellow Rail. 
“ Eastern North America, not abundant, very secretive” (Key, 
674), and as thebird is small it is no wonder it is not often seen; 
possibly it may yet be found tobreed with us. On April 27, 793, 
one was shot on Patapsco Marsh by Richard Cantler, this I saw. 
On May 18, ’89, at Hog Creek Marsh, Harford County, one was 
flushed twice but not secured, by Mr. W. H. Fisher, and on 
October 20, ’94, one was presented to me in the flesh; it was 
received with a mixed lot of birds, in a box sent from Back 
River Neck by a market gunner. 
“Jn the collection of the National Museum are two Yellow 
Rails, both of which were taken on the marshes of the Potomac 
River near Washington, the first by T. E. Clark, October 4, ’79, 
the second by A. S. Skinner, March 28, ’84” (H. M. Smith and 
Wm. Palmer, Auk, v, 147). 
Porzana jamaicensis (216). Black Rail. 
“Not often found in the United States, being one of our 
rarest birds” (Key, p. 674). One secured at Piscataway, 
Maryland, was presented to the Smithsonian Institute by John 
Dowell, of Washington, D.C., (Smith. Report, ’84, 145). “One 
seen in the District of Columbia during September, ’61 , but not 
secured. One taken 2 or 3 years ago is now in the Smithso- 
nian ” (A. C., 101). Several are recorded from Pennsylvania 
and New Jersey, (Birds E. Pa. and N. J., 67). 
