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WADING BIRDS. 
Hutchins. By the first week in November their cackling 
ceases ; and as they seem to migrate hither without delay, and 
with great expedition for a bird with such short wings, it is 
probable they proceed at once to the swamps of the Southern 
States. 
This species is not as abundant as either the Virginia Rail or the 
Sora, but it is not so rare as many writers have supposed. It is 
such a skulker and hides so quickly that it generally escapes obser- 
vation even when close at hand. The bird is a summer resident of 
New England and-the Maritime Provinces, and has been taken in 
the Hudson Bay district. It is quite common in Ohio, and has 
been found nesting in Illinois. It winters in the Southern States. 
BLACK RAIL. 
PORZANA JAMAICENSIS. 
Char. Head, neck, and lower parts dark slate or dusky ; back rich 
brown ; wings and taii brownish black, marked with white ; belly and 
flanks barred with white. Length about 5 incites. 
Nest. In a wet meadow or reedy marsh, hid amid the rank grass ; a 
compactly made, deep cup of grass and weed stems. 
Eggs. 8-10 ; dull white or creamy, marked all over with fine spots of 
reddish brown; i.oo X 0.80. 
This, the smallest of our Rails, was not mentioned by Nuttall, 
though it had been discovered long before his time, and was given 
by Audubon. It has always been considered a rare bird, being 
seldom found on the Atlantic coast, and only a few examples being 
seen north of New Jersey. Connecticut is its northern limit. In 
the western division of this Eastern Province it is more common, 
and goes somewhat farther north ; a number of nests having been 
taken in northern Illinois. In habits this species does not differ 
materially from its congeners. 
Note. — The Spotted Crake {Porzana porzana), an Old 
World species, occasionally visits Greenland. 
The Corn Crake, or Land Rail {Crex crex')., also an Old World 
species, occurs regularly in Greenland, and has been taken on Long 
Island and Bermuda. 
