THE MRGINIA RAIL. 



607 



taneously he cocks his tail forward and relaxes it nerxuuslv. If vou succeed 

 in looking sufficiently disinterested, he will snatch a slug hastil}- and watch you 

 furti\-ely with a blood-red eye, to note whether you a])i)ro\'e of such actions. 

 If you pass all the tests of good behavior during the first five minutes, the 

 gentle bird will relax his vigilance and show you how he can walk o\-er half- 

 submerged vegetation without sinking \'ery deep himself, or if in the passage 

 from bog to bog he comes to a space nf clear bmwn water, he will swim as 

 lightly as a duck, but with that odd bobbing motion peculiar ti.i his race. A 

 single false motion, however, will send him scuttling off thru the plant-stems 

 and out of sigiit in a twinkling, cackling in alarm and (ludgCDU. 



But splash you aruund never so bra\"ely in hip-bo(its, or wait you never so 

 patiently, the feeling grows upon you that }'ou are an outsider, so far as the 

 more intimate interests of the swamp are concerned. There is much trafficking 

 in the sedges, wliich is not meant for human eyes, and the re\'ealing of the life 

 of anv Rail is much like the natural history of a sliooting star. — one flash, one 

 historv. But the shy liirds are brave in \-iiice. As the male Rail wanders 

 about uneasily in early April searching for a mate lie cries. "Krg, kcgqy, kcggy. 

 kcggw" in tones whicli convey an impression of a much larger and fiercer 

 bird. The anxiety of a female for 

 her young is betrayed by a mourn- 

 ful ki-i, or by short phrases oi 

 creaking notes. If the young are 

 in hiding, a low cluck of reassur- 

 ance will bring them scurrying to 

 find their mother. 



A hummock of grass in a fresh- 

 water marsh is always selected as a 

 nesting place. In this the bird 

 scratches a consideralile depression, 

 which she lines carefully with dried 

 grasses. The bird is a close sitter, 

 but flies when flushed, where you 

 would expect her to have better 



success in sneaking. 



If the eggs 



are handled in her absence, the 

 owner is likely to destroy them up- 

 on lier return : and ^Ir. Bowles has 

 a set which he rescued nearly in 

 time, with only one of its eggs 

 pierced clear thru by a thrust of the 

 bird's lons: beak. 



The 



averagmg tewer 



Ttskcn 111 Tacoma. Photo by flic Autltors- 



XEST AND EGGS OF \IRGINI.A KAIL. 



