142 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



216. Black Rail. 



Porzana jamaicensis (Gmel.) Baird. 1845. 



The following notes from Mcllwraith's Birds of Ontario include 

 every authentic record of the occurence of this bird in Canada : 



" Dr. Cottle of Woodstock, Ont., claims to have found a bird of 

 this species at Ingersoll in 1856, and from my knowledge of Dr. 

 Cottle I am satisfied his identification is correct." A Mr. Nash, 

 who collected in the Dundas marsh in 1874, writes Mr. Mcllwraith 

 as follows in January 1894 : 



" Aug. i8th, 1874.— Shot four of these birds this evening at the 

 upper end of Dundas marsh. My dogs put them up where the 

 rushes had been mowed. This is the first time I ever noted them 

 here. After this date I saw several others about the same place, 

 during this year (1874). I also shot a few Yellow Rails, and saw 

 many." 



Mr J. H. Fleming of Toronto doubts the occurrence of this 

 bird in Ontario, 



LXXVII. CREX Bechstein. 1802. 



21 7. Corn Crake. 



Crex crex (Linn.) Sharpe. 1884. 



A rare casual in Greenland. One obtained -at Godthaab and 

 sent to the Museum of Copenhagen in 1851. {Arct. Man.) Taken 

 in Greenland in 1887, 1892, 1893 and 1894. {Winge.) 



In The Auk for January, 1899, Mr. James McKinley, of Pictou, 

 Nova Scotia, records the shooting of a specimen of this species 

 in a marsh near Pictou nearly twenty-five years ago. The speci- 

 men remained unidentified until a recent visit paid to Pictou by 

 Mr. Frank M. Chapman, who at once identified it. 



LXXVIII. lONORNIS Reichenbach. 1852. 



218. Purple Gallinule. 



lonornis martinica (Linn.) Reich. 1852. 



A very rare casual in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. {Downs. 

 Chamberlain^ 



