102 WATER BIRDS 



to discover whether or not he is nesting there. But the 

 marsh birds are shy and very wary, and the long marsh 

 grass guards them well. It is far easier to hear them 

 than to see them. If your patience endures long 

 enough, you may catch a glimpse of a Rail picking 

 his way cautiously between the tules, with a curious 

 bobbing motion. If you are so fortunate as to find a 

 mother bird on her eggs, she will become rigid with 

 terror, her red eye dilating and her long neck stretched 

 up not unlike a water snake. In this position you may 

 easily mistake her for a stick or a dry rush. If flushed, 

 her small powers of flight suffice to carry her only a short 

 distance, when she will disappear in the rushes and no 

 patient waiting will give you another glimpse of her. 

 My own experience goes to prove that the nest is always 

 deserted by her after the first forced flight from it. 



Mr. Brewster says : " The female, when anxious about 

 her eggs or young, calls ki-ki-ki-ki in low tones, and 

 kiu much like a flicker. The young of both sexes in 

 autumn give, when startled, a short explosive kep or 

 kik, closely similar to that of the Carolina rail." 



214. SORA, OR CAROLINA RAIL. — Porzana Carolina. 

 Family : The Rails, Gallinules, and Coots. 



Length: 8.60. 



Adults : Feathers about base of bill black ; a broad black line through 

 crown aud extending down the back of the neck ; throat, breast, and 

 cheeks gray ; upper parts grayish brown, streaked with black and 

 white ; belly white ; flanks barred with blackish slate-color. 



Young : Similar, but no black at base of bill ; upper parts darker. 



Downy Young : Uniform black ; a tuft of orange-colored, hair-like 

 feathers on throat. 



