374 
ALECTORIDES. 
on the ship “ Michael Angelo,” during a voyage from Liverpool, in May, 1851. The 
nearest -land was Cape Sable, three hundred miles distant. 
The sensitiveness of this bird to cold, and its immediate departure upon the first 
severe frost, render its movements variable, and dependent on the season. It usually 
leaves the Middle States in October, but in favorable seasons remains much later. 
In 1846 the fall was a remarkably mild one, and the Soras continued abundant on 
the Delaware Liver until the last of November. 
Captain Bendire mentions this bird as being present in Eastern Oregon during the 
breeding-season; but how abundantly he was not able to ascertain. He only met 
with it on four occasions. Mr. Gosse informs me that it breeds in great numbers in 
the wet marshes of Wisconsin, that its nest is constructed of dry grasses, and that 
this is sometimes partly arched over, but more frequently under broken-down grasses 
or weeds. The eggs — as he states — are seven or eight in number, and occasionally 
even more. A nest found in Lynn, Mass., by Mr. Moon, contained nine eggs, and this 
is said to be the common number. 
Mr. E. W. Nelson, who carefully studied the habits of this Rail in Northern 
Illinois, gives the 1st of May as the date of its arrival, and October as that of its 
departure. He states that it nests along the borders of prairie sloughs and marshes, 
depositing from eight to fourteen eggs, and that its nest may often be discovered at 
a distance by the appearance of. the surrounding grass, the blades of which are in 
many cases interwoven over the nest, as if to shield the bird from the fierce rays of 
the sun — felt on the marshes with redoubled force. The nests are sometimes built on 
solitary tussocks growing in the water, but their usual position is in the soft dense 
grass growing close to the edge of the slough, and rarely in that which is over eight 
inches high. The nest is a thick matted platform of soft marsh-grasses, with a slight 
depression for the eggs. 
In Wilson’s day the history of this Rail was very imperfectly known, and some of 
the information in regard to its habits accepted by him as true was without doubt 
incorrect. This is especially the case in that which relates to its breeding, all of 
which really had reference to the Virginia Rail, and not to this bird. I believe that 
this Rail does not breed anywhere south of the 42d parallel, and that it is very 
rare there, except in the NortliAvestern States. It breeds from about this parallel to 
the 62d, in favorable places, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. The breeding of 
this bird was not known to Wilson, Audubon, or Nuttall, and the young and eggs 
referred to by the first two belong to another species ; Dr. Bachman’s notice of a 
nest found on the Hudson has reference, however, to this bird. 
The Sora breeds in fresh-water marshes, on small dry or elevated tussocks, and 
in the middle of tufts of coarse herbage. Its nest is usually a mere collection of 
decayed rushes and coarse grass loosely aggregated, and not admitting of removal as 
a nest. The eggs are from seven to twelve in number. Instead of the creamy-wliite 
ground of the Virginia Rail, this egg has one of a light drab-color. The markings 
are spots of a roundish shape, and are all of a uniform dark rufous tint. The form 
of the egg is also quite different, it being oblong oval, equal at either end, and differ- 
ing from that of Rallus virginianus in all respects, and in so marked a manner as to 
be at once distinguishable from it. No. 536, from Concord, Mass., measures 1.38 by 
.88 inches, and is remarkably oblong. Two eggs (No. 1272) obtained by Mr. Goss in 
Minnesota are much more rounded, and have the larger end more obtuse. These 
measure, one 1.18 by .90 inches, the other 1.15 by .91 inches. 
