178 CLAPPER RAIL. 



eth of May, they generally commence laying and building at 

 the same time; the first egg being usually dropt in a slight cavi- 

 ty, lined with a little dry grass, pulled for the purpose, which, 

 as the number of the eggs increase to their usual complement, 

 ten, is gradually added to, until it rises to the height of twelve 

 inches or more, doubtless to secure it from the rising of the 

 tides. Over this, the long salt grass is artfully arched, and knit 

 at top, to conceal it from the view above: but this very circum- 

 stance enables the experienced egg-hunter to distinguish the 

 spot at the distance of thirty or forty yards, though impercept- 

 ible to a common eye. The eggs are of a pale clay colour, sprin- 

 kled with small spots of dark red, and measure somewhat more 

 than an inch and a half in length, by one inch in breadth, being 

 rather obtuse at the small end. These eggs are exquisite eating, 

 far surpassing those of the domestic hen. The height of laying 

 is about the first of June, when the people of the neighbourhood 

 go off to the marshes an egging, as it is called. So abundant 

 are the nests of this species, and so dexterous some persons at 

 finding them, that one hundred dozens of eggs have been col- 

 lected by one man in a day. At this time the crows, the foxes, 

 and the minxes, come in for their share; but not content with 

 the eggs, these last often seize and devour the parents also. The 

 bones, feathers, wings, &c. of the poor Mud-hen lie in heaps 

 near the hole of the minx; by which circumstance, however, he 

 himself is often detected and destroyed. 



These birds are also subject to another calamity, of a more 

 extensive kind. After the greater part of the eggs are laid, there 

 sometimes happen violent north-east tempests, that drive a great 

 sea into the bay, covering the whole marshes; so that at such 

 times the Rail may be seen in hundreds, floating over the marsh 

 in great distress; many escape to the main land; and vast num- 

 bers perish. On an occasion of this kind I have seen, at one view, 

 thousands in a single meadow, walking about exposed and be- 

 wildered; while the dead bodies of the females, who had perish- 

 ed on or near their nests, were strewed along the shore. This 

 last circumstance proves how strong the ties of maternal affection 



