The Yellow Rail 



philosophical acceptance of strange surroundings. The stranger is plied 

 with unwelcome dainties (he prefers bugs and worms of his own choosing) ; 

 and the upshot is that the museum man receives by post a few days later 

 an ominous little box, which by reason of its frequency and flatness he 

 knows to contain the sad remains of Porzana Carolina, "as thin as a rail." 



No. 307 



Yellow Rail 



A. O. U. No. 215. Coturnicops noveboracensis (Gmelin). 



Description. — Adult: Upperparts, sides, and flanks chiefly black, exquisitely 

 marked in large pattern by fine bars of white, and interrupted, especially on back and 

 wings, by parted lateral edgings of ochraceous; middle of belly white; throat and breast 

 rich ochraceous tawny (sayal brown to cinnamon-brown), with obsolete barring of 

 dusky, clearing and paling on chin to buffy. changing on sides of head, neck, and breast 

 through finely clouded mixture of black, white and tawny to pattern of upperparts; 

 bend and edge of wing white, as also much of the wing-lining. Length 152.4 (6.00) or 

 177.8 (7.00). Av. of five California specimens: wing 85 (3.35); bill 12.7 (.50); tarsus 

 24.5 (.96). 



Recognition Marks. — Actually sparrow size, but appearing larger; marsh- 

 skulking habits; yellowish brown coloration with size distinctive. 



Nesting. — Nest: A hollowed cushion of coiled grasses raised above shallow 

 water or moist ground, usually well concealed and marked by wisp of dead grass or hay. 

 Eggs: 7 to 9; ivory-yellow or cartridge-buff, finely spotted with reddish brown (hazel 

 to chestnut), the spotting usually confined to a cap, more rarely wreathed or scattering. 

 Av. size 26.2-30 x 19.6-22. 1 (1. 03-1. 18 by .77 x .87). Season: June; one brood. 



General Range. — Temperate North America; breeding from southern Macken- 

 zie, central Keewatin and southern Ungava south to Maine, Minnesota and South 

 Dakota. Winters in North Carolina, the Gulf States, and California. 



Occurrence in California. — "Rather rare winter visitant to marshes of west 

 central California" (Grinnell, Bryant and Storer). Sporadically abundant, as revealed 

 by high tides. Also recorded for Humboldt, Riverside, and Orange counties. 



Authorities. — Cooper {Porzana noveboracensis) , Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci.. vol. iv., 

 1868, p. 8 (Martinez and San Francisco Bay); Cooke, U. S. Dept. Agric, Bull. no. 128, 

 1914, p. 31, map (distr. and migr.) ; Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 11, 1915, p. 47 

 (status in Calif.); Dawson, Jour. Mus. Comp. Ool., vol. ii., 1922, nos. 3-4, p. 31 (Mono 

 Co., desc. nest, eggs). 



IN ORDER that my readers may see how ornithological history is 

 sometimes made "while you wait," I give below the account as originally 

 prepared for these pages six years ago. To this I append an exact repro- 

 duction of the account appearing in "The Journal of the Museum of Com- 

 parative Oology" (Vol. II., Nos. 3-4, Oct. 26, 1922, pp. 31, 32) under the 



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