RAILS, GALLINULES AND COOTS 



1003 



lows its notes out into the marsh. It seems to prefer to 

 dodge through the thick vegetation like a mouse, some- 

 times when cornered, doubling back almost between one's 

 feet to avoid flying. 



The Virginia rail arrives from the south on its nest- 

 ing grounds from the middle to the last of April when 

 the marshes are still flooded and the new vegetation is 

 just beginning to show green. Nevertheless one needs 

 patience to find the birds even at this time though their 

 notes are almost as frequent as the croaking of the frogs. 

 The first notes heard in the spring are not very different 

 from the spring call of the peeper but soon one hears a 

 note that might be called its song. Cut-a, cut-a, cut-a, 

 cut-a, or racket, racket, racket, racket, comes from a little 

 clump of brown cat-tails, almost thin enough to see 

 through and yet, try as one may, one cannot see the bird. 



A CAPTIVE COOT 



The coot is sometimes called a "mud hen." Note the white bill and the 

 lobes on the toes. 



As soon as the vegetation grows high enough to afford 

 some protection, nesting begins and the marshes resound 

 with their cries even during the night. A hollowed plat- 

 form of rushes is built in a clump of vegetation just above 

 the water and the tips of the flags or sedges are pulled 

 down until a sort of a roof is formed to conceal the sit- 

 ting bird from enemies passing over head. The young 

 rails are similar to the young gallinules but of course 

 are smaller. They are able to run about almost as soon as 

 hatched but if danger is near and the parent birds think 

 they are not traveling fast enough, they do not hesitate 

 to pick them up by any convenient appendage and hasten 

 off with them. The writer once attempted to confine a 

 nest full of young rails by placing an enclosure about the 

 nest, but the old birds without the slightest hesitation, 



A LEAKY ROOF 



But it serves to hide the Virginia rail from enemies that fly over head. 

 The rails always pull the tips of the growing vegetation down over the 

 msts in this way. 



flew over the fence with the young ones and carried them 

 further into the marsh. 



A larger edition of the Virginia rail and much less 

 common, except in some of the marshes of the Middle 

 West, is the king rail. Its color pattern is almost an 

 exact counterpart of that of the Virginia rail but it is 

 almost twice the size. A much paler species but other- 

 wise similar to the king rail, is the clapper rail, found 

 only in the salt marshes. The clapper rails of the Pacific 



A VIRGINIA RAIL AT HOME 

 Note the long, slightly decurved bill. 



