130 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



Like Wilson's snipe, a few of these birds 

 breed in the Middle States. Few persons, in- 

 deed, have been fortunate enough to see the 

 nest of the Carolina rail. Mr. Krider, who for 

 several years has paid considerable attention to 

 the study of ornithology, has, however, he 

 thinks, discovered it more than once, built in a 

 bunch of coarse grass on the edge of the high 

 marshes. In looking over his rough notes, we 

 find that in the year eighteen hundred and 

 forty-five, he found a nest on the Broad Marsh 

 with the hen sitting upon it, cunningly con- 

 cealed from view by the top of a tuft of grass, 

 which was bent down and fastened to the nest. 

 She left her eggs with evident reluctance, steal- 

 ing away as it were, step by step, and constantly 

 looking back to watch the intruder's intentions. 

 We, ourselves, remember to have seen, some 

 years ago, at the house of a medical gentleman 

 of Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, a pre- 

 pared specimen of the Rallus Carolinus, with 

 her brood beside her, which the doctor assured us 

 had been caught in his meadow on the previous 

 June. We have also killed rail in the same 

 month on a farm a few miles distant from the 

 former place. It is well known, however, that 

 the main body move on far to the north, return- 



