44 



THE OOLOGIST 



incident was repeated this year, wlien 

 a collector of a friend of mine went to 

 a nest that contained one egg. But 

 alas, when he returned for the set, the 

 egg was broken. At first I laid it to 

 the crows, but now I am thoroughly 

 convinced that the parent eagles are 

 the guilty ones. 



My version of the affair is that their 

 scent is very keen and they object to 

 intruders. The nest when the egg was 

 broken in 1906, was never touched by 

 me. 



I never knew of any bird of prey 

 whatever outside of the Bald Eagle 

 that cared the least bit how you look- 

 ed, felt, or pried around their nests. 



W. B. CRISPIN. 



A Virginia Rail Nesting. 



The Virginia Rail, although not gen- 

 erally distributed throughout eastern 

 Massachusetts, is found plentifully in 

 several localities. They arrive from 

 the south about the first of May, some- 

 times earlier, and seem to prefer 

 swamps containing thickets of low 

 bushes overgrown with vines and 

 briars, rather than more open grassy 

 marshes. By May 15th they have nests, 

 and toward the last of the month 

 broods of newly hatched young may be 

 found. 



On May 27, 1909 while collecting in 

 the Fresh Pond Marshes of Cambridge, 

 I came upon a pair of birds with a 

 brood of young not much over twenty- 

 four hours old. A wandering dog had 

 already located the brood and had 

 driven one of the young into a narrow 

 runway. This runway was about six 

 or seven feet long, was banked up 

 strongly on each side with dense 

 clumps of Cat-tails, and was too nar- 

 row for the dog to enter. 



I took up my position at one end of 

 the runway and waited. The dog would 

 chase the young bird along in my di- 



rection, and as I reached over to pick 

 it up. it would suddenly vanish. In a 

 few moments it would re-appear, mak- 

 ing its way back towards the dog. This 

 was repeated a number of times. Fre- 

 quently the bird approached within a 

 few inches of my hand when it would 

 stop and crouch close to the ground, 

 immediately becoming invisible. Had 

 he remained quiet, he might easily 

 have escaped, but at no time did he 

 stay in one place longer than a few 

 seconds. 



All this time the parents Were trav- 

 eling back and forth thjiougtl the cat- 

 tails, now on one side, now on the 

 other, but keeping well concealed, 

 their constantly uttered "kiu" — a note 

 resembling a similar one of the Flick- 

 er, but less loud— only be,traying their 

 constantly changing position. 



At last the dog withdrew and I lost 

 sight of the young bird. He soon re- 

 appeared twenty feet away, and I saw 

 that if I was to procure him for a spe- 

 cimen, which I desired to do, I would 

 be obliged to shoot him, so when he 

 next appeared momentarily, between 

 an opening in the cat-tails I fired. A 

 careful search failed to locate the bird, 

 although it did not seem possible I 

 had missed him. After some ten min- 

 utes fruitless search I directed my at- 

 tention to a small black lump about 

 the size of my thumb, which lay half 

 submerged in a puddle and which I 

 had passed in my search, supposing it 

 to be a lump of mud. This was my 

 bird, but in the dim light of the 

 swamp, close to the ground, among 

 roots, mud, water and decaying vege- 

 tation, it appeared as part of its sur- 

 roundings and was easily ovei'looked. 



In size the young Rail was about 

 as large as a mouse, and was covered 

 with soft down as dense as the fur of 

 any aquatic animal; the color black, 

 dull below, but of a glossy greenish on 

 the head and back. Although the bird 



