462 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



legs liancnn^ clown on either side. Time went on, and, so wary were the 

 birds, no one had a chance until 1881 to settle the question whether the 

 birds did really sit in this unbird-like posture. In that year (and the obser- 

 vation has since been confirmed) it was definitely ascertained that the old 

 idea was wrong. One account says : " We approached within some seventy 

 yards before their sentries showed signs of alarm, and at that distance 

 with the glass observed the setting birds as distinctly as one need wish. 

 Their long red legs doubled under their bodies, the knees projecting as far 

 as or beyond the tail, and their graceful necks neatly curled away among 

 their back-feathers, like a sitting swan, with their heads resting on their 

 breasts, — all these points were unmistakable. Indeed, it is hardly neces- 

 sary to point out that in the great majority of cases (the nests being hardly 

 raised above the level of the hard mud), no other position was possible." 

 One correction needs to be made in the foregoing quotation ; the " knees " 

 must haA'e been the heels. 



The rails and their allies are familiar to all. They are long-legged 

 birds which frequent marshy and swampy places. During the day they 

 largely keep themselves concealed, and it is as evening comes on that their 



loud, harsh voice is 

 most heard. They 

 wend their way be- 

 tween the rushes 

 with the utmost 

 ease, and prefer their 

 legs to their wings 

 to escape from the 

 hunter and his dog. 

 Dr. Cones thus de- 

 scribes the Virginia 

 rail as he saw, or 

 rather heard it, at 

 the Sink of the Mo- 

 jave : " At nightfall 

 some mallard and 

 teal settled into the 

 rushes, gabbling curious vespers as they went to rest. A few marsh-wrens 

 had appeared on the edge of the reeds, queerly balancing themselves on 

 the thread-like leaves, seesawing to their own quaint music. Then they 

 were hushed, and as darkness settled down, the dull, heavy croaking of 

 the frogs played bass to the shrill falsetto of the insects. Suddenly they, 

 too, were hushed in turn, frightened, it may be, into silence ; and from the 



Fig. 391. — Carolina rail (Porzana Carolina). 



