VIRGINIA RAIL. 
I8l 
near representative of the Water Rail of Europe, with whose 
habits in all respects it nearly agrees. But in every part of 
America it appears, to be a rare species compared with the 
Mud Hen or common Clapper Rail. It is also wholly con- 
fined to the fresh-water marshes, and never visits the borders 
of the sea. In New Jersey it is indeed ordinarily distinguished 
as the Fresh-Water Mud Hen ; so constant is this predilection, 
connected probably with its choice of food, that when met 
with in salt-marshes it is always in the vicinity of fresh-water 
springs, which ooze through them or occupy their borders. 
From this peculiarity in its choice of wet grounds, it is conse- 
quently seen in the interior, in the vicinity of bogs and swampy 
thickets, as far_ west as the States of Ohio, Kentucky, and 
probably Illinois and Michigan. Its migrations, however, 
along the neighborhood of the coast do not extend probably 
farther than the shores of the St. Lawrence, as it is unknown 
in the remote fur countries of the North, and retires from the 
Middle States in November at the commencement of frost. 
It revisits Pennsylvania early in May, and is soon after seen in 
the fresh marshes of this part of Massachusetts. How far it 
retires, in the course of the winter, towards the South, is yet 
unknown, though from its absence, apparently, from the warmer 
parts of the continent, it probably migrates little farther than 
the southern extremity of the Union. Its habit of closely 
hiding in almost inaccessible swamps and marshes renders it a 
difficult task even to ascertain its presence at any time ; and, 
like the preceding, it skulks throughout most part of the day 
in the long sedge and rushes, only venturing out to feed in the 
shade and obscurity of the twilight. Its food is most com- 
monly marsh insects and their larvse, as well as small worms and 
univalve shell-fish, it rarely, if ever, partaking of vegetable diet. 
The Virginian Rail commences laying soon after its arrival 
in the early part of May. The nest, situated in the wettest 
part of the marsh, is fixed in the bottom of a sedgy tussock 
and composed of withered grass and rushes. The eggs are 
similar to those of the European Water Rail, being of a dirty 
white or pale cream color, sprinkled with specks of brownish 
