396 



Bird- Lore 



nest with eggs. Two days later tlie yacht bearing us passed up a deep canal 

 through the marsh to a region where the grass was short, and shallow fresh- 

 water ponds were numerous. Here Stilts were in evidence, and at times six or 

 eight birds were in sight at once. 



From the canal-bank the slender yellow face of the bird-warden beamed a 

 welcome. He announced that he had found one nest, and that doubtless others 

 were in the neighborhood. I have seldom experienced a harder task than the 

 half-mile walk I took with the guard to see this nest. The whole region had 

 until recently been submerged and nearly every step was a plunge into mud 

 knee-deep. When the long-expected spot was reached, the guide stooped down 

 and parting a bunch of tall marsh grass, proudly pointed to an object beneath 



a, 1^ :•-. ^lu^ jt^ /jr':-?*«4. -tr~ • J 



A SCENE ON THE LOUISIANA MARSHES 



him. Slowly and sadly I picked it up. It was an egg of the Louisiana Clapper 

 Rail — and rotten. This newly employed guard had not yet become familiar 

 with the Stilt's manner of nest-building. No doubt the Stilts had nests in the 

 immediate neighborhood, for they were continually flying about and calling. 

 They had a way of alighting on the mud, where, with bent legs and drooping 

 wings, their whole bodies would quiver as though the ague of the marshes had 

 entered their systems. Standing there and looking over the expanse of shallow 

 ponds and treacherous mud-fiats, with the heat beating down with unbeliev- 

 able force and with mosquitos and green-headed ilies struggling among them- 

 selves for every available spot where they might sting the soft-skinned intruder, 

 my enthusiasm waned, so we called it a day's work and returned to the yacht. 

 Stilts are found in summer at various points up the Mississippi Valley. 



