Long 1 Island Bird. N ofc©s N . X» Lawrsncfi 
, c Issf ° r ?T a noveboracensis - Ykllow Rail. At Far Rockawaj, Oct. 
5 ’ I ® 83 ' 7 hl ‘ e cross, ng a large field within a short distance of the salt 
meadow, I started one of these Rails, but having no gun I did not secure 
,t. It was very gentle; I flushed the bird three times, it rising at first within 
afewfeetandflvmgbut a short distance. Mr. Harold Herrick informs 
me that he started a Yellow Rail on the Jamaica Bay meadows, near F " 
Rockaway, in October, ,882, but failed to shoot it. 
Auk, 2, July, 1886, p.274 
The Yellow Rail. 
BY C. II. WILDER, BRISTOL, N. Y. 
This species seem to elude observation pretty 
successfully. Two or three notes may be of in- 
terest. Notes from Central N. Y., on this species 
may be found as follows: Rathbun’s Birds of Cen- 
tral New York says: “Very rare. One taken Sep- 
tember 20lh, 1872. — Qilbert." The Oologist, vol. 
IY, No. 5, p. 40, records a capture in central New 
York. A third was taken at the foot of Canan- 
daigua Lake, Oct. 6, 1883. This specimen is re- 
corded in the Young Oologist , vol. II, No. 2, p. 47. 
The skin was in my collection for nearly a year, 
until destroyed by accident. 
O.&O. XI, Jun.l886.p.*-y. * 
Bird Notes from Long Island, N Y 
William Dutcber, X * 
n. Porzana noveboracensis. Yellow Rail. — Mr. Giraud says: 
“Notwithstanding this species is but seldom met with on Long Island, I am 
not inclined to think it so exceedingly rare in this vicinity as it is generally 
supposed. Its habits of skulking among the tall grass and reeds that 
overgrow the wet and but seldom frequented marshes, as well as its 
unwillingness to take wing, may, I think, in a measure account for its 
apparent extreme scarcity with us.”f 
Mr. A. A. Fraser sent to me April 29, 1887, a specimen of this species 
which his dog caught alive. As his account of the occurrence is very 
interesting, corroborating fully the statements of Mr. Giraud and Dr. 
Grinnell regarding the difficulty of flushing this Rail, I give it in full : 
“ They are very hard to get, as it is almost impossible to make them take 
wing. This one was secured while I was beating the salt meadows for 
English Snipe. My dog came to a beautiful stiff point; I walked up to 
flush the bird, expecting to see a Snipe get up, but instead, the dog broke 
point, and run his nose in the meadow grass and brought to me very 
carefully the Rail.” When I received it, it was so lively, and also so 
pretty, that I disliked to kill it, so took it to the menagerie at Central Park, 
New York City. Mr. Conklin, the Superintendent, placed it in a large 
cage, surrounded with a fine wire netting, in company with some Quails 
and Doves. Its restlessness was pitiful : it ran from side to side of the 
coop and thrust its head in the loops of wire looking for a hiding place. 
During its first night in confinement its neck was caught in one of the 
wire loops and it became an involuntary suicide. Its remains now rest 
peacefully, with those of several other members of its family, in a tin 
vault dedicated to the post-mortem uses of the avi-fauna of Long Island. 
Ax&k, V, April, 1888., p.177 
f Birds of Long Island, p. 205. 
Dr. C. Hart Merriam in his Birds of Connecticut, pp. 118 and 119, gives a very 
interesting letter from Dr. George Bird Grinnell regardingthe capture of several speci- 
mens of this species near Milford, Conn. He found “ They were ridiculously tame 
and would run along before the dog, creeping into the holes in the bogs and hiding 
there while we tried in vain to start them.” 
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