THE ATLANTIC SLOPE NATURALIST. 



1 1 



full. An occasional red-winged blackbird 

 contrives to make his note heard, while 

 overhead flocks of Ibis — two species — are 

 going from their roosts to their feeding 

 grounds. Approaching the river side, 

 the big continued croak of bull frogs adds 

 a bass note, and some scattering grackles, 

 purple and boat-tailed, interject a bar or 

 two of their fashion of melody. 



A pair of purple Martins are making 

 futile efforts to build in the hammer of 

 the big. pile driver. Though routed out 

 every day for a week they are strongly 

 persistent and utterly refuse to take pos- 

 session of the boxes that the workmen 

 took such pains to erect for them Sunday. 



Some one shouts "Manatee," and I 

 catch a glimpse of a big shining black 

 thing off in the river beyond the unfinished 

 centre pier of the bridge. 



Nesting of the Little Black Rail in New 



Jersey. 



By A. R. Justice, Philadelphia, Pa. 



On the Rancocas Creek, about five 

 miles from Mt. Holly, New Jersey, is the 

 farm of the late Charles L. Mather. Ex- 

 tensive meadows border on the creek, 

 which for many years have been, and are 

 still, noted among sportsmen for reed and 

 rail shooting. In May, 1872, my uncle, 

 Charles L. Mather, was mowing meadow 

 grass in one of the meadows, when a 

 miniature rail bird jumped up from a tus- 

 sock of grass close by. Stooping down 

 and parting the grass, a nest was dis- 

 closed containing eggs. Knowing of my 

 interest in ornithology and recognizing 

 that the rail bird was a rare species, he 

 proceeded to his house, obtained a gun, 

 and returning, shot the rail as it arose 

 from the nest. It turned out to be a Tit- 

 tle black rail (Porza?ia jamaicensis). 

 The eggs, eight in number, were per- 

 fectly fresh, the ground color creamy, but 

 covered with fine reddish brown dots col- 

 lected chiefly at the larger end. Two of 

 the eggs were given to Edgar C. Howell 

 by Mr. Mather's instructions ; the others I 

 retained in my collection, but was finally 

 induced to part with them — two went to 



John Krider and the others I presented to 

 Captain Charles Bendire. I have made 

 many a search since in hopes of finding 

 another set, but without success. 



The Carrier Pigeon. 



By Morris (iibbs, M. D., Kalamazoo, Mich. 



It is interesting in times of war to note 

 the advantage we take of schemes that 

 have been devised in times of peace; and 

 in this tendency we see developed many 

 qualities which are most admirable, and 

 in the case of the animals employed we 

 are especially entertained by the intelli- 

 gence displayed, and also by the methods 

 followed by man the master. Every form 

 of scientific training and branch of up-to- 

 date tactics is brought into play. 



For example, the carrier pigeon has 

 been employed, and to an extent with 

 success in modern warfare, and there 

 have been few wars since the French- 

 Prussian trouble, where pigeons have not 

 been used in sending messages. But 

 modern use of the pigeon in war times is 

 not up to the ancient methods employed. 

 There is nothing new under the sun, and 

 we find that pigeons were in use a thou- 

 sand years ago, and probably fully two 

 thousand years ago. There was another 

 method of using birds in an early day, 

 namely, hawking, followed for sport, and 

 strangely enough the educated falcons 

 were used to catch the homing pigeons 

 sent out by the enemy. In the history of 

 the crusades the Christian falcons often 

 pulled down the Mohammedan pigeons, 

 and so expert were those hawk trainers 

 that they even taught their falcons to bring 

 down the homers without injuring them. 

 The message was then read, a misleading 

 message substituted for it and the cap- 

 tured bird then liberated and sent on its 

 way with the incorrect information. One 

 of the greatest victories in the fluctuating 

 fortunes of that three hundred years' war, 

 the Crusades, resulted from sending in a 

 misleading message on a pigeon captured 

 from the Mussulmen by a Christian hawk. 

 The dove is called the bird and emblem 

 of peace, and yet in this instance a 



