THE YELLOW RAIL. 



5 



bird bring high prices is the best of with reddish dots at the larger end. 



evidence that the bird continues a Because of their rarity impositions are 



rarity. The eggs, six to nine in num- not rarely practiced on unsuspecting 



ber, are of a rich buff-brown, speckled well-to-do egg collectors. 



A GALLINACEOUS BIRD 



BY GLEN M. HATHORN 



PHOTO BY 



All through the summer I had heard 

 the notes of Bob White as he whistled 

 and called sweet and soft to his mate 

 who, perchance, had already begun 

 housekeeping amid the waving blos- 

 soms of the upland meadow, and I 

 often paused in my study and listened 

 as I dreamed of a nest full of eggs that 

 I might some day find. 



The day came in June, late June it 

 was, too, when all nature was blos- 

 somed out in red and yellow and blue 

 and pink, and the air was laden with 

 the scent of the honeysuckle and the 

 wild rose. 



It was a lovely bright day, such a 

 day as one enjoys when out in the 

 open, not too warm to be uncomfort- 

 able, but rather warm enough to cause 

 one to pause and dream day dreams 

 as he stood beside some tall field lily 

 and watched the bumble bees, drunken 

 with honey, fly heavily away with their 

 sweet load, or stand and gaze into the 

 depths of the deep blue sky and listen 

 to the rippling notes of the bobolink. 



Then suddenly from afar you hear 

 the love call of Bob White; borne on 

 the flower-scented air, it comes to you 

 with a deeper and more holy signifi- 

 cance than you had ever imagined it 

 could carry, and your heart bursts into 



THE AUTHOR 



song and leaps for joy at the sound, 

 and you think what a happy old world 

 this is after all. 



Sir White had been singing for some 

 time on the same fencepost, and I con- 

 cluded that something of great im- 

 portance must be keeping him there, 

 so I bent my steps in his direction. 



Having arrived in his immediate 

 neighborhood, he suddenly took wing 

 from the post on which he had been 

 sitting and struck off toward the clover 

 field to the south. I passed on my 

 way, looking to right and left, reached 

 a wire fence and started to climb 

 through, when, quick as a flash, there 

 flew from under me a large bird that 

 so startled me that I lost, for a mo- 

 ment, my wits and tumbled headlong 

 into the grass on the other side. 



After gathering myself together and 

 picking up my camera, which I had 

 dropped in my haste, I began a search 

 for the nest, which I thought must be 

 within the radius of a yard or so from 

 the place where I so suddenly entered 

 the field. 



And sure enough, directly under the 

 bottom wire of the fence, midway be- 

 tween two posts, I found the nest 

 which contained sixteen slightly incu- 

 bated eggs, which were so well con- 



