228 FEATHERED GAME 



form and habits much like the familiar Virginia 

 rail, and similarly marked, though its general 

 coloration is grayish or yellowish-brown. Its 

 l^lumage with its blending colors lacks the 

 bright tones of reds and browns sharply con- 

 trasted with the blacks as they appear in the 

 Virginia. 



In the breeding season these birds are very 

 noisy and keep up a continual clatter, whence 

 their name. A dweller in the marshes, mainly 

 those of the seacoast, he is found all along the 

 Atlantic seaboard of the United States, as far 

 north as New England during the breeding sea- 

 son, and spending the winter months in the 

 Southern States and even farther toward the 

 tropics. This species is far more abundant in 

 its southern range than elsewhere. 



Their nesting habits are much as in the other 

 species ; a little above the high tide level a sort 

 of platform of reeds and dry grasses matted to- 

 gether just out of the water constitutes the nest. 

 This contains anywhere from six to ten eggs, 

 in color creamy white, freckled with red-brown 

 spots. 



The adult bird is of brownish-olive hue above, 

 with dusky streaks through the centres of the 



