THE BRONZED CRACKLE 



dozen shoots from the latent bud areas. 

 To a far less extent than one would 

 suppose, this sort of many-ribbed and 

 thickly leaved retreat is used by the 

 birds as a nesting place. But the 

 kingbird, the robin and the bronzed 

 grackle all know a thing or two in this 

 connection, as the illustration shows. 



Such sites are almost invariably over 

 water, and such the grackle loves. 

 Far out on the swaying branches, 

 where some sprouty stem invites, the 

 bulky, earth-plastered nests are built; 

 so far out that, in one case, I have 

 trussed the branch with cord, to keep 

 the lusty young from drowning. 



Those that are familiar with the 

 normally, much-clouded egg of the 

 bronzed grackle will note with interest, 

 the unusual character of the eggs 

 shown with this sketch. They were 



of a clear robin's egg blue, without 

 clouding, and with bold, dark mark- 

 ings of amber. 



One reminiscence of the feeding 

 habits of this grackle in breeding time, 

 must suffice in closing. In the sweet 

 old barefoot days, while going to and 

 fro amid the growing corn, there grew 

 familiar the busy forms of the mother 

 grackle, bustling along the lake-shore, 

 fishing for tadpoles and young frogs, 

 amid the lake-weed and the foam- 

 crests of the summer waves. And I 

 can hear, today, the musical stridence 

 of their voices, mingling with the music 

 of the water; and the touch of the cool 

 breeze and the whiff of the lake odors 

 come back to one with a thrill; and 

 these are the things that keep some of 

 us grey-haired fellows from growing 

 old. 



THE YELLOW RAIL. 



BY MORRIS GIBBS. 



The rail family is composed of 

 species of birds which are remarkably 

 different in their social life, particu- 

 larly in reference to their gregarious 

 habit or lack of it. Some there are, 

 as the American coot, which are much 

 given to flocking, and I have seen 

 flocks of over an hundred and huddled 

 together on the water so that a shot 

 would kill a dozen or more. Then 

 there are the Callinules, less given to 

 flocking, and in the salt water districts 

 the marsh hen or clapper rail, which 

 flies in straggling flocks. Then in a 



generally distributed manner we have 

 the Virginia and Carolina rails, the 

 latter in particular being well known 

 over a large part of the union; yet 

 these small rails, though abundant 

 about marshes and well known to the 

 observer, are rarely seen in more than 

 pairs. There is the King rail, or fresh 

 water hen, which much resembles the 

 near relative, the clapper rail — the one 

 in the salt marshes and the other in 

 fresh water regions. All told there are 

 eighteen rails known to North America, 

 fifteen of which are supposed well- 



