VIRGINIA RAIL. l8l 



near representative of the Water Rail of Europe, with whose 

 habits in all respects it nearly agrees. But in every part of 

 America it appears, to be a rare species compared with the 

 Mud Hen or common Clapper Rail. It is also wholly con- 

 fined to the fresh-water marshes, and never visits the borders 

 of the sea. In New Jersey it is indeed ordinarily distinguished 

 as the Fresh-Water Mud Hen ; so constant is this predilection, 

 connected probably with its choice of food, that when met 

 with in salt-marshes it is always in the vicinity of fresh-water 

 springs, which ooze through them or occupy their borders. 

 From this peculiarity in its choice of wet grounds, it is conse- 

 quently seen in the interior, in the vicinity of bogs and swampy 

 thickets, as far west as the States of Ohio, Kentucky, and 

 probably Illinois and Michigan. Its migrations, however, 

 along the neighborhood of the coast do not extend probably 

 farther than the shores of the St. Lawrence, as it is unknown 

 in the remote fur countries of the North, and retires from the 

 Middle States in November at the commencement of frost. 

 It revisits Pennsylvania early in May, and is soon after seen in 

 the fresh marshes of this part of Massachusetts. How far it 

 retires, in the course of the winter, towards the South, is yet 

 unknown, though from its absence, apparently, from the warmer 

 parts of the continent, it probably migrates little farther than 

 the southern extremity of the Union. Its habit of closely 

 hiding in almost inaccessible swamps and marshes renders it a 

 difficult task even to ascertain its presence at any time ; and, 

 like the preceding, it skulks throughout most part of the day 

 in the long sedge and rushes, only venturing out to feed in the 

 shade and obscurity of the twilight. Its food is most com- 

 monly marsh insects and their lar\'ge, as well as small worms and 

 univalve shell- fish, it rarely, if ever, partaking of vegetable diet. 

 The Virginian Rail commences laying soon after its arrival 

 in the early part of May. The nest, situated in the wettest 

 part of the marsh, is fixed in the bottom of a sedgy tussock 

 and composed of withered grass and rushes. The eggs are 

 similar to those of the European Water Rail, being of a dirty 

 white or pale cream color, sprinkled with specks of brownish 



