34 CLAPPER RAIL. 



nio-ht, is extremely loud and rapid, its termination lower and protracted. 

 At the report of a gun, when thousands of these birds instantaneously 

 burst forth with their cries, you may imagine what an uproar they make. 

 This bird seems to possess the power of ventriloquism, for, when several 

 hundred yards off, its voice often seems to be issuing from the grass 

 around you. At this period, the males are very pugnacious, and combats 

 are rife until each has selected a female for the season. The males stand 

 erect and cry aloud the least sound they hear, guard their mates, and 

 continue faithfully to protect them until the young make their appear- 

 ance. These come more under the care of the mother, who leads them 

 about until they have attained a considerable size, and are able to shift 

 for themselves. The nest is large, constructed of marsh plants, and fas- 

 tened to the stems in the midst of the thickest tufts, above high-water 

 mark. The materials of which it is formed are so well interlaced with 

 the plants around them, as to prevent their being washed away by extra- 

 ordinarily high tides, which, however, sometimes carry off and destroy 

 the eggs, as well as many of the sitting birds, whose attachment to them 

 is so great, that they are now and then drowned while endeavouring to 

 keep them safe. The nest is very deep, so that the eggs seem placed in 

 the bottom of a bowl or funnel. They are from eight to fifteen in num- 

 ber, measure an inch and a half in length by one and an eighth in breadth, 

 and have a pale buff colour, sparingly sprinkled with light umber and 

 purplish spots. Tlie period of incubation is fourteen days. When un- 

 disturbed, this species lays only one set of eggs in the season ; but as the 

 eggs are in request as a delicious article of food, they are gathered in 

 great numbers, and I myself have collected so many as seventy-two 

 dozens in the course of a day. The nest is generally open at top, and 

 then is very easily discovered, although sometimes the reeds are so arranged 

 about them as to conceal them from the view. When the birds are sit- 

 ting, they suffer you to approach within a few feet ; but, as if aware of 

 your intention, they glide away in silence to some distance, and remain 

 crouched among the grass until you have retired. When, on returning, 

 the poor bird finds that her treasure has been stolen, she immediately 

 proclaims her grief aloud, and in this is joined by her faithful mate. In 

 a few days, however, more eggs are deposited, although, 1 believe, never 

 in the same nest. This species may be called gregarious, yet the nests 

 are seldom nearer to each other than five or ten yards. They are placed 

 in the thickest and most elevated tufts of grass, principally near the edges 



