300 GAME BIRDS OW CALIFOBNIA 



or strident quality and sounds more like hd-e, while at the extreme limits of 

 ear range one of the syllables is lost and tha other might be easily mistaken 

 for the peep of a Pickering's hyla [a species of tree-toad]. This note, repeated 

 at short, regular intervals, many times in succession, is one of the most fre- 

 quent as well as pleasing voices of the marsh in the early morning and just 

 after sunset. It is also given intermittently at all hours of the day, especially 

 in cloudy weather, while it is often continued, practically without cessation, 

 through the entire night. 



Equally characteristic of this season and even more attractive in quality 

 is what has been termed the "whinny" of the Carolina Rail. It consists of 

 a dozen or fifteen short whistles as sweet and clear in tone as a silver bell. 

 The first eight or ten are uttered very rapidly in an evenly descending scale, 

 the remaining ones more deliberately and in a uniform key. The whole series 

 is often followed by a varying number of harsher, more drawling notes given 

 at rather wide intervals. Although it is probable that the "whinny" is made 

 by both sexes I have actually traced it only to the female. She uses it 

 apparently, chiefly as a call to her mate, but I have also repeatedly heard her 

 give it just after I had left the immediate neighborhood of her nest, seemingly 

 as an expression of triumph or rejoicing at the discovery that her eggs had 

 not been molested. When especially anxious for their safety and circling close 

 about the human intruder she often utters a low whining murmur closely 

 resembling that which the Muskrat makes while pursuing his mate and some- 

 times a out-cut-cutta not unlike the song of the Virginia Rail, but decidedly 

 less loud and vibrant. In addition to all these notes both sexes have a variety 

 of short, sharp cries which they give when startled by any sudden noise 

 (Brewster, 19026, p. 48). 



The flight of the Sora Rail among the reeds is usually low, and, shelter 

 being abundant, is rarely extended to more than fifty or a hundred yards. 

 When winged, and uninjured in its legs, it dives and swims with great rapidity, 

 and is seldom seen again. On such occasions it has been found clinging with 

 its feet to the reeds, under the water, or skulking under the floating vegetation 

 with its bill just above the surface. This bird is apparently weak and delicate 

 in everything except its legs; but these possess great vigor; and its body being 

 remarkably thin, it is able to pass readily between the reeds. Though its 

 flight seems feeble, yet it occasionally rises to a considerable height, stretches 

 its legs out behind it, and flies rapidly across the Delaware where it is more 

 than a mile wide (Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 1884, I, p. 373). 



"To avoid flying, when their field is heing mowed they will often 

 stay in the fast narrowing strip of green until they must go or meet 

 the sharp teeth of the sickle, when perhaps a dozen will rise one after 

 another and fly to fresh cover" (V. Bailey iji Bailey, 1902, p. 81). 

 Ranchers have stated to us that these birds are often driven in like 

 manner from California alfalfa fields. Soras are said to answer a clap- 

 ping of the hands with a mocking, cackling laugh. In the marshes 

 they are noisy birds especially towards sunset. "They seem so 

 absorbed by their musical devotions that even when calling con- 

 tinuously it requires endless patience and keen eyes to see the dull- 

 colored, motionless forms in places where one would not suppose there 

 was sufficient growth to conceal them" (Chapman, 1912, pp. 234^235). 



