For z ana ,1 ana .teens is. 
San Geronimo, Marin Co., California. 
189*7. " as to my finding the Black Rail I have Known of this 
tJan-liT locality for several years and that an occasional bird had 
Sept, to 
Dec. 9. been shot by A, B & C when after duck or snipe, and some have 
come into my hands to be mounted. I have visited the marshes 
several times in order to get some specimens during the past 
6 years but never struck one and could get no definite infor- 
mation of any one where on the marsh they had been shot. In 
Sept, of ,’97 I concluded to take my Fox Terrier dog Rosie (who 
will hunt any kind of game as well as any bird dog) and give 
that marsh a good raking over. The result was rather aston- 
ishing. The first day I got 5 birds after striking the r ight 
place, the next trip I shot 24 shot and got 23 Black Rail and 
I had no more shells and could have killed a hundred. 
There was abundant of Virginias with them and I did not 
bother to shoot. The next trip late in Oct. I got my first 
Yellow Rail, 6 that day and in subsequent trips I picked up 
17 birds of that species. Of the Black Rails I killed 80 
birds in all. Those got in Sept, were fat as seals and in a 
ragged moulting condition. Those I got in Oct. or Nov. had 
moulted and were as poor in flesh as Crows, not a particle of 
fat on them; some of the first were so saturated with oil that 
came out of the shot holes as to have the appearance of having 
been soaked in oil and I had to throw away 5 or 6 from this 
a 
