VIRGINIA RAIL. 
212. Hollas virginianus. 10 inches. 
Back handsomely patterned with black, olive-brown and gray; 
wing coverts grayish brown, neck and breast cinnamon brown, 
brightest on the breast. Sides sharply barred with black and 
white; chin and line over the eye white, side of head slaty 
color. Like others of this species, it is found in either the 
fresh or salt marshes, but more abundant in the fresh. 
Nest. —Of grasses on the ground or in tufts of rushes; eggs 
of a creamy white spotted and blotched with brown and lilac; 
six to ten are the number laid (1.25x.90). 
Range. —North America, breeding from British Columbia to 
southern California and the Gulf of Mexico. 
SORA RAIL. 
214. Porzana Carolina. 9 inches. 
Adults with throat and face black; young with no black on 
the head. Unless disturbed they pass the greater part of the 
day in quiet and do most of their feeding after dusk, when 
their clucking notes may be heard all over the marshes. 
Nest. —A rude structure of grass in the rushes; 6 to 16 eggs, 
buff colored with reddish-brown specks (1.25 x .90). 
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