JUNE. 143 



degi'ee of mentality. Those who have watched young 

 rail birds when confined will vouch for their cunning, 

 and those who have seen them in their own homes are 

 equally ready to aver how knowing they are. Although 

 watched over by their parents, and constantly warned by 

 various duckings of different tone, and so, presumably, of 

 different meaning, the young take in the character of 

 their little world very promptly, and act under the guid- 

 ance of their own considerable intelligence. When de- 

 prived of their parents this is, of course, the more evident. 

 Then, they band together for mutual aid, and roost in the 

 thickest tangles, at a distance from open water and where 

 an enemy would only by mere chance be likely to come. I 

 have, by accident, twice come upon them toward the close 

 of day, when the young birds — some half-dozen of them — 

 were resting in tangled cat-tail, at a distance of a foot at 

 least above the water. To the broad leaves of the plant 

 they clung tenaciously, and were at first quite indisposed 

 to run ; but on endeavoring to take off one, they all pre- 

 cipitately fled. Soon after, I heard a faint, quail-like 

 "peeping," and believe that by this signal they were 

 again coming together. I know that when I disturbed 

 them, they fled in different directions. These broods were 

 both very young, and were evidently orphaned. 



When parents and young are kept together in a room, 

 they remain upon friendly terms long after the latter have 

 become fully fledged. In fact, the rails in a friend's aviary 

 went a step further, and one young male married his 

 mother. 



Although these birds grow rapidly and soon become 

 feathered, the idea of using their wings as a means of 

 escape seems never to occur to them until the summer is 

 well-nigh spent ; and even in September I have seen 

 young rail birds that would only run in spite of very close 

 pursuit by a spaniel. Later, when nightly white frosts 



