. Birds & nature. Birds; Natural history. THE SORA ARIOUS are the names re- quired to distinguish the little slate-colored Carolina Rail from its brethren, Sora, Common Rail, and, on the Potomac river, Ortolan, being among them. He is found throughout temperate North America, in the weedy swamps of the Atlantic states in great abund- ance, in the Middle states, and in Cal- ifornia. In Ohio he is a common sum mer resident, breeding in the exten- sive swamps and wet meadows. The nest is a rude affair made of grass and weeds, placed on the ground in a tus- sock of grass in a boggy trac
. Birds & nature. Birds; Natural history. THE SORA ARIOUS are the names re- quired to distinguish the little slate-colored Carolina Rail from its brethren, Sora, Common Rail, and, on the Potomac river, Ortolan, being among them. He is found throughout temperate North America, in the weedy swamps of the Atlantic states in great abund- ance, in the Middle states, and in Cal- ifornia. In Ohio he is a common sum mer resident, breeding in the exten- sive swamps and wet meadows. The nest is a rude affair made of grass and weeds, placed on the ground in a tus- sock of grass in a boggy tract of land, where there is a growth of briars, etc., where he may skulk and hide in the wet grass to elude observation. The nest may often be discovered at a dis- tance by the appearance of the sur- rounding grass, the blades of which are in many cases interwoven over the nest, apparently to shield the bird from the fierce rays of the sun, which are felt with redoubled force on the marshes. The Rails feed on both vegetable and animal food. During the months of September and October, the weeds and wild oats swarm with them. They feed on the nutricious seeds, small snail shells, worms and larvae of insects, which they extract from the mud. The habits of the Sora Rail, its thin, compressed body, its aversion to take wing, and the dexterity with which it runs or conceals itself among the grass and sedge, are exactly simi- lar to those of the more celebrated Virginia Rail. The Sora frequents those parts of marshes preferably where fresh water springs rise through the morass. Here it generally constructs its nest, '' one of which," says an observer, " we had the good fortune to discover. It was built in the bottom of a tuft of grass in the midst of an almost impenetrable quagmire, and M-as composed alto- gether of old wet grass and rushes. The eggs had been flooded out of the nest by the extraordinary rise of the tide in a violent northwest storm, and lay scattered about the
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectnaturalhistory
