202 
NESTS AND EGGS OF 
at the risk of her own life, to save these jewels of her affection — these 
]»ledges of her regard — from the snares of the fowler. As soon as hatched, 
or shortly afterwards, the young are able to quit the nest, and hide them- 
selves among the grass. Their food consists of worms, insects and seeds 
of grasses, which they jirocnre in situations which they frequent. In their 
earliest stage the mother helps them to find the essential articles, pretty 
much after the fashion of the Quail, but as they grow, her responsibility 
is in a measure abated, and they are left to their own resources. In about 
four or five weeks they withdraw themselves from her sheltering care en- 
tirely, but continue to dwell in the same haunts until the severity of the 
weather calls them to warmer climes, when both young and old leave 
together. Their departure is almost unheralded by vocal manifestions, and 
is slowly executed, the birds stopping from their migrations, at times, to 
attend to the demands for food. So the journey often requires a fortnight, 
and even longer time, for its completion. 
With the retiring habits of these birds, and their tendency to settle 
in almost inaccessible meadows and swamps — the most secluded and farthest 
recesses of which they seek when approached — it is not surprising that 
they should be deemed less common than they are in actual reality. When 
better understood they will be shown to be in other sections as abundant 
breeders as they are in New England and the Middle Atlantic States. 
When observed, which is rarely the case, they stand or run with the tail 
erect. A peculiar jerking of this appendage upwards, is a noticeable fea- 
ture which gives them a somewhat comical appearance. In flight the legs 
hang as is usual with waders, and are not tucked up, so to speak, as in 
the case of our smaller land species. They fly to a short distance, and at 
the moment of alighting, run off with remarkable speed, a movement which 
the depending position of the feet enables them to accomplish with com- 
parative ease. 
Such is the resemblance which obtains between the eggs of this 
species and those of the Clapper Rail, that were it not for the much 
smaller size of the former, they could not be readily discrimiilated there- 
