173 



THE OOLOGIST. 



it, and this ignoramus told me it was 

 "a cross between a Rail and a Plover," 

 while I silently opined "where ignor- 

 ance is bliss, its folly, etc." This man's 

 friend told me later that he did not 

 keep it for a curiosity longer than to 

 get it home where it was plucked and 

 eaten. 



Rail hunting at flood tide is not the 

 highest sportsmanship, as the Rail take 

 refuge on high ground, and, when very 

 little of that is exposed your dog is sure 

 to put up a bird almost every few yards. 

 Occasionally these birds will climb in- 

 to a thick, short bush, common to the 

 salt marsh, or sit contentedly on a pile 

 of drift or a floating log, and at such 

 times can be hit with an oar, but the 

 birds todaj' with the exception of one 

 were flushed before I saw them, and 

 this one was standing partly concealed 

 among some salt grass in several inches 

 of water, and tipping its body quickly 

 up and down; a common habit. Again, 

 the Rail is not a swift flyer, flying in a 

 straight Ime, and when hunters are 

 numerous one of them will get the bird 

 you miss if it flies his way, or, mark it 

 down and flush it again and keep Mr. 

 Rail on the hop-skip-and-jump until he 

 is shot or has presence of mind to sink 

 into the water and keep his head out by- 

 holding to a stem by his bill. This is a 

 favorite trek of theirs when wounded. 



Yet, hunting them at high tide saves 

 lots of bard work, such as pulling 

 around the sloughs and tramping 

 through the stickj' marsh mud with 

 heavy rubber boots. The mud there is 

 under water too deep to wade and here 

 is where the tall, wet salt grass grows 

 in profusion, half blinding the dog, 

 rendei'ing him loath to work. 

 . Although not web-footed this long- 

 legged bird is a tolerably rapid swim- 

 mer when pursued in the water, swim- 

 ming with its body submerged up to 

 most of the neck. 



The nests are built on the salt marsh, 

 under a bush or among the "marsh 



grass" and weeds close to a small 

 slough. The material used is a heap 

 of wet, dead stems, grass and drift. 

 The eggs range from eight to eleven 

 usually, in a set. The young are downj- 

 and coal black when hatched. During 

 the nesting season these high tides are 

 absent, but rats play havoc with the 

 eggs and young. I noticed many fierce 

 looking rats today, driven to higher 

 grounds by the tide. I shot two that 

 were being chased across the slough by 

 the dog. They dove wl.eu the dog was 

 about to grab them and whenever I 

 raised my gun. 



The Rails note is a chatter, something 

 like that of a Gallinule or Guinea fowl. 

 Their chief food is crustaceans and the 

 craws of those I shot were mostly emp- 

 ty. One contained bits of leaf of a 

 plant common to the salt marsh and 

 one bird had swallowed a mud crab the 

 size of a quarter of a dollar and had 

 discarded the legs and pincers probably 

 to prevent the crab causing trouble 

 after being swallowed. 



Some persons relish the Rail's flesh, 

 but my personal opinion is not with 

 them except in case of extreme hunger. 

 The breast and second joint is meatj', 

 the rest is,— just Rail. A broth tasting 

 like clam juice is obtained from stewing 

 them plain. 



DoxALD A Cohen, 

 Alameda, Cal. 



Notes on the Ruffed Grouse. 



The Rufl'ed Grouse [Bonasa umbcllus) 

 is a constant resident in Maryland, 

 being quite common in some sections of 

 the country within a few miles of this 

 city. 



In roaming about the woods in the 

 spring, I have often flushed the Pheas- 

 ant (as this bird is called with us) from 

 likely places, for a nest, but all my ef- 

 forts to find one were in vain until May 

 2, 1894, when I succeeded in taking my 

 tii'st set of eggs. It was in this manner: 



