90 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



YELLOW RAIL: Coturrdcops noveboracensis (Gmelin). 



State records. — The yellow rail is apparently a rather rare 

 winter resident but is fairly common at times during migra- 

 tion. In the collection of the University of Wisconsin is a 

 specimen taken at Montgomery in 1876 by L. Kumlien ; single 

 specimens were taken also by Dr. Avery, 10 miles south of 

 Greensboro, December 19, 1891 ; by E. G. Holt, at Barachias, 

 December 11, 1911 ; and by W, L. Bryant, at Bayou Labatre, 

 in January, 1917. Golsan and Holt state that the bird is 

 "common in fall and early spring on open hay fields at Bara- 

 chias."t 



General habits. — During its winter sojourn in the South, 

 this species inhabits somewhat drier and less marshy situa- 

 tions than the other rails. The birds are very difficult to 

 flush, preferring to hide in the thick grass among which they 

 live. They will even at times allo^^ themselves to be caught 

 by a dog rather than take flight. In overflowed savannas, 

 however, I have known them to flush rather easily. Their 

 flight is steady and rather more protracted than that of the 

 other rails. Nuttall describes their notes as "an abrupt and 

 cackling cry, 'krek, 'krek, 'krek, 'krek, 'kuk, k'kh," resem- 

 bling the croaking of a tree frog. 



Food habits. — Audubon states that this rail feeds on in- 

 sects, seeds of grasses, and small fresh-water snails.J Wayne 

 also records finding fresh-water snails in the stomachs of 

 specimens talcen in South Carolina.** 



[BLACK RAIL: Creciscus jamaicensis jamaicensis (Gmelin). 

 The black rail, the smallest of the North American rails, is also the 

 rarest. It breeds locally from southern Canada south to South Caro- 

 lina and winters from the Gulf States south to Jamaica and Guatemala, 

 so may be expected to occur as a migrant and possibly as a breeder in 

 Alabama. It is recorded as striking the lighthouse at Warrington, 

 Florida, only a few miles from the Alabama border, March 22, 1885.*] 



tOolsan and Holt, The Auk, vol. 31, p. 218, 1914. 

 tAudubon, J. J., Ornith. Biog., vol. 4, p. 253, 1838. 

 ••W«jrne, A. T., Birds of South Carolina, p. 88, 1910. 

 ♦Stone, D. D., Orn. and Ool., vol. 10, p. 158, 1885. 



