162 
THE GREAT RED-BREASTED RAIL. 
their nests from time to time, and return to them several years in succes- 
sion.” 
The young, which are at first black, leave the nest as soon as they burst 
the shell, and follow their mother, who leads them along the borders of the 
streams and pools, where they find abundance of food, consisting of grass- 
seeds, insects, tadpoles, leeches, and small cray-fish. At this early period, 
when running among the grass, which they do with great activity, they may 
easily be mistaken for meadow-mice. My friend Bachman, who had 
several times attempted to raise these birds, with the view of domesticating 
them, did not succeed, principally, he thinks, on account of the difficulty of 
procuring enough of their accustomed food. They all died in a few days, 
although the greatest attention was paid to them. 
When grown they feed on a variety of substances, and it has appeared to 
me that they eat a much greater proportion of seeds and other vegetable 
matters than the Salt-water Marsh-hens. It is true, however, that in the 
gizzard of the latter we find portions of the Spartina glabra; but when 
that kind of food is not to be procured, which is the case during three-fourths 
of the year, they feed principally on “ fiddlers,” small fish, and mollusca. 
In the gizzard of the present species, besides the food already mentioned, I 
have always found a much greater quantity of the seeds of such grasses as 
grow in the places frequented by them. On one occasion I found the gizzard 
crammed with seeds of the cane ( Arundo tecta ); and that of another con- 
tained a large quantity of the seed of the common oat, which had evidently 
been picked up on a newly sown field adjoining to the marsh. In autumn I 
have killed this species in corn-fields, in the company of John Bachman, 
Paul H. Lee, Esq. and others. These birds are rarely shot by common 
gunners, on account of the difficulty of raising them, and because they gene- 
rally confine themselves to places so swampy and covered with briars, 
smilaxes, and rough weeds, that they are scarcely accessible. But although 
they are thus safe from man, they are not without numerous enemies. 
My friend Bachman once killed a large moccasin snake, on opening 
which he found an old bird of this species, that had evidently been swal- 
lowed but a short time before. Its feathers are frequently found lying on 
the banks of rice-fields, ponds and lagoons, in places where the tracks of 
the mink plainly disclose the plunderer. The Barred Owl and the Great 
Horned Owl also occasionally succeed in capturing them in the dusk. “ On 
one occasion,” says my friend Bachman, in a note addressed to me, “ while 
placed on a, stand for deer, I saw a wild cat creeping through a marsh that 
was near to me, evidently following by stealthy steps something that he was 
desirous of making his prey. Presently he made a sudden pounce into a 
bunch of grass, when I immediately heard the piercing cries of the Marsh- 
