Completely unexpected, a rail popped out of the grass in my dry, upland meadow. It flew away from me, legs dangling, and dropped down twenty feet away....what I could see was the back, only. I didn't see the beak. Rather featureless, dark back. But the one distinctive mark I could remember was the light, thin arc at the top edge of the wing. I've been looking in all my field guides but can't see if that would show on a virginia rail or sora. (I'm guessing a sora or virginia rail from probability, maybe an immature.) In Sibley there is a suggestion of a pale arc on the picture of the sora. Anyone seen them enough to offer some suggestions? Inga Schmidt Chagrin River Road Geauga/Cuy Co line ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]