Where Town and Country Meet 



few feet of you, absolutely noiselessly, with- 

 out report of voice or wing, and drift slowly 

 along over the tops of the reeds like a dead 

 leaf. Then he will drop down again, with 

 comical suddenness, and vanish from sight. 

 His appearance is altogether ghostlike and 

 eerie. When the reeds have swallowed him 

 up once more you almost question whether 

 your senses have not deceived you whether 

 you have not seen a shadow instead of a 

 bird. Yet the rail is very common on our 

 marshes, especially during the summer. He 

 arrives late in the spring, breeds with us, 

 and then returns southward quite early in 

 the fall. A squat little figure is his, with the 

 legs set well back, like those of all the 

 waders. He has an enormous foot, in pro- 

 portion to the size of his body, the long, 

 spreading toes acting as a kind of mud- 

 shoe to bear him up and enable him to run 

 swiftly over the soft slime in which he seeks 

 his food. His coloring is rather pretty, or 

 would be, if its variegated shades green- 

 ish brown above, and ashy blue with white 

 markings beneath were more pronounced 

 and less blurred. In size the rail is a little 

 smaller than a robin, but being bob-tailed 



