IO. Rallus elegans. King Mr. Giraud say's of this Rail : “Dur- 
ing my frequent excursions on Long Island, I have not had the good for- 
tune to meet with this large and beautiful Rail, and have only seen one 
specimen that was procured in that locality, which was shot in the vicinity 
of Williamsburg, and is now in the valuable collection of George N. Law- 
rence, Esq.” After quoting Mr. Audubon at some length, as to its being 
altogether a fresh water bird, he concludes by saying: “Hence we may 
conclude that its occurrence with us is extremely rare.” $ As it is, like all 
of the Rallidae, partly nocturnal and extremely secretive in its habits, it 
is probably overlooked and is more common than it is thought to be. Mr. 
Knoess, of Riverhead, has a mounted specimen in his collection. It is a 
young bird and was caught alive on the shores of Peconic Bay. It is the 
second one that has been brought to him alive. He cannot say positively 
whether it was bred there, but he is under the impression that it was.§ 
Mr. Squires, of Ponquogue, Suffolk Co., has in his possession a mounted 
specimen which was shot some years since on the meadows opposite the 
Great West Bay Light, Shinnecock Bay. It was taken in the summer. 
My friend, Mr. Alfred A. Fraser, of Oakdale, Suffolk Co., presented me 
with a magnificent specimen in the flesh, which he shot November 2, 1886, 
on a meadow bordering a fresh water stream, emptying into Great South 
Bay, at Bayport, Suffolk Co. He wrote : “I cannot remember of bagging 
over halffTi dozen in my twenty years’ shooting on Long Island,” Mr. 
Fraser is the fortunate possessor of a beautifully located country seat of 
800 acres, which affords him many hours of sport with his dogs and gun. 
March 3, 1887, one of these birds struck the Montauk Point Lighthouse, 
and was sent to me by the keeper, Capt. Scott. He stated that” the bird 
struck the light on the east side of the tower. If it was migrating north- 
ward, it should have struck the tower on the west side, the trend of the 
^Island being about- east and west, but striking on the opposite side indi- 
cates that it only struck after circling about the light. * 
Auk > V, April, 1888, 
P.170 ' / 77 - 
t Birds of Long Island, p. 210. 
$ See Birds of Connecticut, p. n s . 
* See B!rd Migration, By William Brewster. Mem. Nuttall Ornith. Club, No. 1, l886 
Rallus elegans. King Rail. — About August, 1880, Mr. Milo C. 
Webster of Knovvlesville (now of Buffalo) while out on a hunt in company 
with Rev. J. H. Langille, shot a King Rail in a marsh on the lake shore 
in the town of Carlton. Mr. Langille makes mention of this specimen in 
his ‘ Our Birds in their Haunts,’ page 400. 
Auk, XVI, April, 1899, p p.fP'6 
King Rail ( Rallus elegans) at Springfield, Mass.— On the thirtieth 
day of August, 1911 , a King Rail was captured in the wild rice that is found 
in abundance along the shores of the Connecticut river a few miles below 
Springfield. There are but two previous records of the occurrence of this 
bird in the Connecticut valley near Springfield. — Robert O. Morris, 
Springfield , Mass.J^^ 
,x.)ux<Afa. /?/* 2,37 
