/ 0~lst£t '*****/' / 77 a ^ m £ • • .. 
I am not aware that any of the scientific papers * relating to the 
birds of Maine include the name of Rattus longirostris. It appears, 
however, to be a rare visitor to the State. Mr. Samuel Hanson, a 
gentleman who is perfectly familiar with the species, has given me 
three instances of its occurrence in the vicinity of Portland. One 
specimen was killed by himself, in Falmouth, on the 17th of Octo- 
ber, 1866, and about the same time two others were noticed in the 
game-bag of a sportsman in the same town. A probable fourth 
specimen (if correctly identified, doubtless the first killed in the 
State) was shot by my friend Mr. Luther Redlow, about September, 
1864. It proved a “sp. nov.” to all local sportsmen, and was pro- 
nounced to be of the species in question only after comparison with 
printed descriptions. 
* A contributor writing from Portsmouth to the defunct “ Country,” under 
date of February 14, 1878, noted the capture of a “ Rallus crepitans ” at York, 
Me., in the last week of December, 1875. Since the gentleman chose to con- 
ceal his identity under the initial “ E.,” I am unable to say under whose spon- 
sorship this record was made, but regard it as probably correct. Mr. Purdie 
writes me that his allusion on page 22, Yol. IT, of this Bulletin, to the bird’s 
occurrence in Maine was based on a knowledge of the same specimen, which, he 
adds, was preserved by Mr. Vickery, of Lynn, Mass. 
Bull t*. O.O. 4, April, 187?, p. 
Note on the Clapper Rail in Maine. — Many years ago Mr. Samuel 
Hanson, of Portland, spoke to me about three examples of a large Rail 
from Falmouth, one of which he had shot and all of which he had exam- 
ined. I did not see the birds, for this was long after they had been bagged, 
and none of them was, I believe, preserved; but they were identified by 
Mr. Hanson as Clapper Rails ( Rallus crepitans). This identification I 
accepted. 2 Mr. Hanson was a man of education and standing, as well 
as a sportsman of wide experience in this country and abroad. Through- 
out his life, which ended a few months ago, he felt much interest in birds, 
especially in game birds. I think to-day, as I have always thought, that 
his identification of the rails could hardly have been questioned at the 
time when the record of them was made. But I now believe that he was 
mistaken and that the birds were King Rails ( Rallus elegans). When 
they were recorded, no King Rails were known to have occurred in Maine. 
When I cited 1 the record in my list of the birds of Portland and vicinity, 
but one such Rail had been noted, 2 and that was shot in Scarborough. 
Now, however, there are two records 3 of King Rails from the very marsh 
on which Mr. Hanson found his birds. On the other hand, no Clapper 
Rails have been detected there or elsewhere in the vicinity of Portland 
since his identification was made. While the possibility that he was 
right remains, the probability that he was mistaken is so strong that I 
have felt obliged to call attention to it. 
There is also to be considered a rail shot “about September, 1864” by 
Mr. Luther Redlon, and referred to in the original notice of Mr. Hanson’s 
birds as “a probable” Clapper Rail, but not mentioned in my Portland 
list. If we adopt the hypothesis that the latter were King Rails, it can 
scarcely be doubted that the former was of the same species, and we are 
left without evidence that Rallus crepitans has occurred near Portland. — 
Nathan Clifford Brown, Portland, Me. . 
.&ak. xxiv, a a., iso . , p. 
2 Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, Vol. IV, p. 108. 
1 Proc. Port. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. II, 1882, p. 30. 
2 Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, Vol. VII, p. 60. 
3 Brock, Auk, XIII, p. 79; ibid., XIX, p. 285. 
