208 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



Range. — North America. Breeds from British Columbia, southern Sas- 

 katchewan, southern Keewatin, Ontario, southern Quebec and New 

 Brunswick south to southern Cahfornia, Utah, Kansas, Missouri, Illi- 

 nois, New Jersey and eastern North Carolina, and in Toluca valley, 

 Mexico; winters from Oregon, Utah and Colorado to Lower California 

 and Guatemala; also in the lower Mississippi States, and from North 

 Carolina (casually Massachusetts) to I'lorida; occurs casually north 

 to northern Quebec and Newfoundland. 



History, 



It is difficult to obtain accurate data regarding the former 

 numbers of this species, as it hides away in fresh-water marshes 

 and is little known. It is reported, however, from every 

 county in the State, and may breed in all. It is found on 

 Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket in winter, but 

 probably the birds which summer there pass farther south. 

 So little of the bird is known to the gunners among my cor- 

 respondents that only thirty-four report it. Four mention 

 an increase in its numbers in their localities and thirty a 

 decrease. 



One of the wonders of my early boyhood was a Rail's 

 nest, discovered by a boy companion on the edge of a swampy 

 run within the present limits of Boston. We got a glimpse 

 of the long curved bill of the mother Rail, which proved it 

 to be a Virginia. Great was our rejoicing over the eleven 

 glossy, buffy eggs, with their lovely brown and lilac spots. 

 The nest was built among the driftwood and grasses under 

 an alder bush at the edge of the run. 



A little water, lots of mud, a lonely bog with a wilderness 

 of cat-tails and sedge make an ideal home for Rails. "Thin 

 as a Rail" they have to be to pass between the stems of the 

 reeds and water plants under cover of which they live. An 

 inch is ample space for a Rail to pass, for it can compress 

 the narrow body until it takes less room than that. Much 

 of the Rails' life is spent in running and sneaking about 

 under cover of the rank vegetation of the marsh and meadow, 

 for Rails have many enemies. When forced to fly they 

 flutter feebly along, only a few feet from the grass tops, with 

 legs dangling loosely, and soon drop back into cover. Little 



