THE "QUEEN" KAIL 



snakes, moles and field mice homed in and under the rotting 

 bottom rails, bright green lizards liked to laze on the sunny sides 

 of the middle ones, while sleek ground squirrels, with black- 

 striped backs, ran on the top. 



In the corners on either side grew rank orchard grass, thickly 

 sprinkled with sweet-Williams, while laughing-faced blue-eyed 

 Marys coquetted with them through the cracks. Graceful 

 maiden-hair ferns tossed their tresses from wiry steins. Bleached 

 mandrake umbrellas, that would later unfurl shades of green to 

 shelter cups of wax and gold, pushed stoutly through the sod. 

 Half the corners were filled with the whiteness of wild plum and 

 service-berry; the others were budding the coming snow of alder 

 and the blush of wild rose. Papaw sheaths were bursting with the 

 pressure of coming leaf and wine-coloured bloom, and rich red and 

 yellow buckeye buds were pursy with swelling flower and foliage. 



" Mu-m-m-m-m-m-m ! " came the low rumble of a swamp bird. 

 " Gyck ! Gyck ! " came the answer; then the fence was forgotten. 

 The camera I selected to use weighed forty pounds, the field 

 was mellow and the swamp at its farthest corner. Close study 

 was required to locate the nest, but at last, by only a few grass 

 blades persistently arched against the wind, I found it. Then 

 putting on my waders and carefully probing with a long tripod 

 for each step, I entered the swamp and started toward the nest. 



The birds fear noise far more than objects, so I made a long 

 wait between steps and shifted my feet sidewise so as not to sink 

 so deep in the muck that I could not get out. It was difficult 

 work to take a step, while I sank deeper and deeper on nearing 

 the nest. Coming close I made longer pauses between steps. 

 When I was almost to the nest, from the heart of the swamp 

 broke a sharp "Gyck! Gyck!" the same cry that I had heard 

 on the road; then I knew that it came from the King Rail and 

 that he was anxious about his Queen. 



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