362 
ALECTORIDES. 
taken. Its food consists of small crabs and other minute crustaceans. In the 
latter part of the season it becomes very fat, acquires a fine flavor, and is highly 
esteemed by many as food. Mr. Lewis, on the other hand (“ American Sportsman,” 
p. 222), maintains that the flesh of this bird is universally insipid, dry, and sedgy. He 
also speaks of it as being very shy and secret in its habits, and states that he has not 
met with it except along the salt-marshes of the sea-sliore and the mouths of large 
rivers. He occasionally found it numerous in the brackish fens of Long Island, but 
has noticed it as being especially abundant along the shores of New Jersey and Dela- 
ware. It arrives from the south about the middle of April, and its presence is soon 
made known by its very peculiar cry or cackle, similar to the well-known notes of the 
Common Guinea-fowl. Even when these birds are most abundant in the marshes few 
of them are to be seen. 
This bird begins to lay about the close of May ; the nest being simple, but artfully 
contrived for concealment, and having the long grass twisted and plaited over it in 
the form of an arch, so that when the observer is inexperienced the eggs are effect- 
ually concealed. The usual number of these is eight or ten, but there are sometimes 
as many as fifteen. The egg of this bird is regarded as a great delicacy, and is 
eagerly sought for. Sometimes the marshes on which this bird breeds are overflowed, 
in consequence of the long prevalence of easterly gales, and the eggs destroyed in 
immense numbers. To flush it being almost impossible, the only way to obtain it 
is to hunt it on the marshes in a light boat during the prevalence of a high tide. The 
flight of this bird is very similar to that of the Sora Rail, although even more slow and 
labored, and it is easily brought down when on the wing. 
On the coast of the Carolinas this species breeds in great numbers, some remaining 
nearly all the year ; but in winter .it occurs in smaller numbers, and occasionally, dur- 
ing the coldest weather, disappears altogether. The number of its eggs is rarely more 
than seven, and in South Carolina they are laid as early as the 25th of April ; but, 
owing, perhaps, to the nests being so often robbed, fresh eggs are found through 
June. Two broods are usually raised in one season. 
In Jamaica this bird is known as the “ Mangrove-hen,” it being so named with 
reference to its appearance, habits, and haunts. It is said by Mr. Hill to ramble 
about w r itli its callow brood, like a hen and chickens. At low water it visits the un- 
covered flats, and searches for small crabs. Worms, shell-fisli, insects, and Crustacea 
are its animal food, and the seeds and shoots of aquatic plants form the vegetable 
portion of its nourishment. As this bird has much of the character of the Gallinaceai, 
and as the young are able to run and feed themselves as soon as they are hatched, 
these are, when half grown, as helpless on the wing as half-fledged poirltry. At this 
age, when feeding on the shoals, they can be run down with great facility, and are 
said to be delicious eating. 
Wilson states that the eggs of this bird are a great delicacy, far surpassing in his 
opinion those of the domestic hen. So abundant were the nests of this Rail, accord- 
ing to his observations, that he has known twelve hundred of their eggs to be collected 
by one man in a single day. Wilson also mentions that on several occasions, when 
an unusually high tide had flooded the marshes on which these birds were breeding, 
he has found the dead bodies of the females, who had perished on their nests, 
strewed along the shore — proving how strong are the ties of maternal affection in 
this species. He also states that it has a covered pathway through the marshes, 
under the matted grasses, through which this bird runs in the manner of rats, and 
by which it escapes observation. 
Its cries are said by Audubon to resemble the syllables cuc-cac-cuc-cac<a-caha-caha^ 
