72 
BIENNAL REPORT 
1 he young leave the nest as soon as hatched and are able to take care of them¬ 
selves as far as securing food is concerned. If the theory that numerous progeny 
is a provision against great destruction from natural causes is correct, then the 
annual casualty list among these birds must be very high. Their powers of flight 
are rather weak and clumsy and, excluding the Coot, they depend largely for 
escape upon their ability to run quickly and hide in the grass. So awkward are 
they on the wing when first flushed that it was formerly considered impossible that 
they could make the long flights necessary in migration and it was then seriously 
believed that they passed the winter hibernating in the mud like turtles and frogs1 
But when once well a-wing they make the journey to milder climes like other 
birds, the Sora going even as far as Peru and Venezuela. 
By far the most abundant member of the family in Minnesota is the Sora or 
C arolina Rail. Its call, usually described as a “whinny,” rises in a great chorus 
from every considerable marsh whenever a sudden noise startles the unseen and 
timid birds. 1 his is the rail that now and then during migrations is picked up 
in yards and streets of towns and in other strange places and in the late summer 
may be flushed from upland cover where it is feeding far from its usual haunts. 
In August, 1879, when the writer was studying birds along the Minnesota shore of 
Lake Superior the following note was made: “Common, though the almost entire 
absence of marshes forces the species to frequent what seem very unsuitable places; 
for instance the dense raspberry patches of the burnt sections, thick brush, a pea 
patch, the lank glass about abandoned habitations and like curious localities. 
Once I found three quietly reposing several feet from the ground in an evergreen 
tiee standing in a perfectly dry, stony place; and on another occasion shot a speci¬ 
men from the smaller branches of a tree, where it alighted after being flushed from 
a weed-patch on a dry hillside.” Potato fields are an especial lure in the fall. 
Insects, berries and weed-seeds are no doubt the attraction at such times. In the 
marshes it feeds upon wild rice and other seeds, many aquatic insects and larvae, 
worms, snails, etc. A considerable quantity of sand is swallowed by this and all 
the other species as an aid to digestion. The small size, stubby bill and black 
face readily identify the Sora. 
The Virginia Rail is generally distributed but is less abundant than the Sora 
and seems not to wander from the marshes like the last species. Its long bill 
and reddish color distinguish it from the Sora and its smaller size from the King 
Rail of which otherwise it is an almost exact counterpart. 
The King Rail is a fairly common bird in the southern third of the state, be¬ 
coming infrequent northward until it disappears at about Lat. 46 degrees. The 
most northern record is southeastern Otter Tail County. It is a large cinnamon- 
brown bird, 15 inches in length with a slender bill nearly two and a hall 
inches long. 
The Florida Gallinule is common with about the same range as the King Rail. 
It is a large, dark, slate-colored bird, thirteen and a half inches long, with a short, 
thick, white-tipped, red bill, and a shiny, bright red plate on forehead and crown, 
when in full plumage. The immature birds in the fall lack the red and the' 
frontal plate is small. It apparently breeds very unevenly for not infrequently 
many of the young are only half grown and flightless with the advent of fall, and 
occasionally a recently hatched brood of the curious sooty-black, red-billed, red- 
crowned and gray-whiskered youngsters may be encountered even as late as the 
