The Virginia Rail 



young is betrayed by a mournful ki-i or by short phrases of creaking 

 notes. If the young are in hiding, a low cluck of reassurance will bring 

 them scurrying to find their mother. 



A hummock of grass or a patch of thickset cat-tails, whether in a fresh- 



Taken in Washington 



Photo by the A ttlkor 



NEST AND EGGS OF VIRGINIA RAIL 



water or a brackish marsh, is usually selected as a nesting place. The 

 water of the swamp may be only an inch or so in depth or it may be a foot, 

 but the bird breaks down the grasses until she has a reliable foundation a 

 few inches above the water. On this she piles dead grasses or broken cat- 

 tail leaves and hollows them out to some semblance of comfort. The bird 

 is a close sitter and usually flies when first flushed. She is rather careful 

 not to be caught a second time, however, and will glide off quietly and in- 

 visibly if the visitor insists upon recurrent visits. If the eggs are handled 

 in her absence, the owner is likely to destroy them upon her return; and 

 Mr. J. H. Bowles has a set which he rescued nearly in time, with only one 

 of its eggs pierced clear through by a thrust of the bird's long beak. 



The eggs, averaging fewer in number than the Sora's, may be cer- 



T 539 



