152 



YELLOW-BREASTED RAIL. 



4-Ortygometra Noveboracensis, Lath. 



PLATE CCC VII.— Male. 



The Prince of Musignano, who purchased one of these hirds in the New 

 York market in February, 1S2G, gave a figure of it, and considered it as an 

 arctic species. This opinion, however, is incorrect, for the Yellow-breasted 

 Rail is a constant resident in the Peninsula of the Floridas, as well as in the 

 lower parts of Louisiana, where I have found it at all seasons. That a few 

 straggling individuals should proceed northwards, advancing even to pretty 

 high latitudes, is not much to be wondered at, as we have a similar case in 

 the Common Gallinule. But at the season mentioned the individual referred 

 to must have been forced thither by a storm, as no Rails of any kind are 

 found in that part of the country in winter. 



In the neighbourhood of New Orleans, this species is found in all the 

 deserted savannahs, covered with thick long grass, and pools of shallow 

 water. There you hear its sharp and curious notes many times in the course 

 of the day, just as you hear those of Rallus crepitans near the sea-shore, 

 more especially after the report of a gun, when they are louder and more 

 quickly repeated. These sounds come on the ear so as to induce you to 

 believe that the bird is near; but whether this be the case or not is not easily 

 determined, for when you move towards a spot in which you suppose it to 

 be, the sounds recede at your approach, and you may think yourself fortu- 

 nate if, after half an hour of search, you discover one on wing. Indeed, if 

 we have a bird in America approaching in its habits the Corn Crake of 

 Europe, it is the Yellow-breasted Rail: it also resembles in its habits the 

 European Quail, a bird as fond at times of damp meadows bordering rivers 

 as this species is wont to be, when it seeks for a place of safety in which to 

 form its nest and rear its young. 



In the Floridas, this bird is more abundant than even in Louisiana; and I 

 met with it frequently in the course of my wanderings there, not only on 

 the mainland, but also on several of the keys, w T here they begin breeding in 

 March. On Sandy Island, near Cape Sable, I found several pairs, in May 

 1832. About New Orleans it commences breeding at the same period. Dr. 

 Bachman has procured specimens near Charleston. I have also found a few 



