380 
ALECTORIDES. 
It has also been taken in the Bermudas. Major Wedderburn met with it in the 
Pembroke Marsh, Nov. 19, 1847. He saw another in the same place, in October, the 
following year; a third soon after at the Sluice Ponds; and Mr. Hurdis procured 
one, Nov. 10, 1852, also at Pembroke Marsh. 
It has only recently been credited with a New England residence. Mr. J. H. Batty 
informs me that he has taken it in Connecticut. He says : “ I have never taken but 
two of this species. I shot them both in a fresh-water marsh, several years ago, at 
Hazardville, Conn. 1 had never observed them before that time, nor have I met 
with them since. They were breeding, as I saw several of their young, and caught one 
of them, which I examined and let go again. This was in the latter part of June.” 
It has since been recorded by Mr. H. A. Purdie as taken at Saybrook, Conn., on the 
authority of Mr. J. H. Clark, who wrote him that a neighbor of his, while mowing at 
that place, July 10, 1876, swung his scythe over a nest of ten eggs on which the bird 
was sitting, cutting off the bird’s head and breaking all but four of the eggs. It has 
also recently been recorded from Clark’s Island, Plymouth Harbor, Mass., where a 
specimen was obtained in August, 1869. 
Mr. Nelson refers to the Little Black Bail as a species of not very rare occurrence 
in Northern Illinois, where it breeds. During the spring of 1875 he met with three 
specimens in the Calumet marshes ; the first was seen early in May. In the same 
season, on the 19tli of June, Mr.. Nelson states that Mr. Frank De Witt, while collect- 
ing with him near the Calumet Eiver, was so fortunate as to discover a nest of this 
species that contained ten freshly laid eggs. The nest had been constructed in a deep 
cup-shaped depression in a perfectly open situation on the border of a marshy spot, 
and its only concealment was that furnished by a few straggling C'arices. It was com- 
posed of soft grass-blades, loosely interwoven in a rounded shape. The nest, in its 
form and manner of construction, was similar to that of a Meadow-lark. Mr. Nelson 
describes it as having an inside depth of 2.50 inches ; inside diameter, 3.25 ; outside 
depth, 3.50 ; outside diameter, 4.50. The eggs are said to be of a creamy white, 
and to average 1.00 inch by .81, being of a nearly perfect oval, and thinly sprinkled 
with fine reddish-brown dots, which become larger and more numerous toward the 
larger end. Minute shell-markings in the form of dots were also visible. Probably 
in consequence of the small size of the depression in which the nest was inclosed, the 
eggs were in two layers. 
Mr. Hensliaw states that this Bail appears to be as numerous in California as in 
any other part of its habitat. From information given by Mr. Gruber, he judges it 
to be rather common in the extensive tule swamps of that State. It has also been 
found by Mr. Gruber on the Farallon Islands. Its small size and skulking habits, as 
well as the nature of its swampy retreat, render the procuring of specimens diffumlt. 
Mr. Mathewson informed Dr. Cooper that he has frequently obtained it at Martinez 
in the fall and in winter. 
Dr. James Trudeau informed Mr. Audubon that this species arrives in Louisiana, 
in company with the Yellow-breasted Bail, about the end of October, and is very 
common in marshes in the vicinity of woods. It migrates northward in the begin- 
ning of March, and a great number of this species are said to breed in the vicinity 
of Salem, N. J. 
An egg in my collection, obtained by Mr. Ashmead in the neighborhood of Phila- 
delphia, and given me by Mr. Cassin (No. 564), has a ground-color of a light cream 
or creamy white, over which are generally distributed fine markings or minute specks 
of a brownish red ; these are most numerous at the larger end. The egg is oval in 
shape, is tapering at one end, and measures 1.00 inch in length by .75 in breadth. 
