RALLUS VIRGINIANUS. 
108 
of body, its aversion to take wing*, and the dexterity 
with which it runs or conceals itself among* the grass 
and sedge, are exactly similar to those of the common 
rail, from which g*enus, notwithstanding* the difference 
of its bill, it ought not to be separated. 
This bird is known to some of the inhabitants along 
the sea-coast of New Jersey, by the name of the fresh- 
water mud hen, this last being the common appellation 
of the clapper rail, which the present species resembles j 
in every thing but size. The epithet fresh-water is 
given it, because of its frequenting those parts of the 
marsh only where fresh water springs rise through the 
bogs into the salt marshes. In these places it usually 
constructs its nest, one of which, through the active 
exertions of my friend Mr Qrd, while traversing with 
me the salt marshes of Cape May, we had the good 
fortune to discover. It was built in the bottom of a 
tuft of grass, in the midst of an almost impenetrable 
quagmire, and was composed altogether of old wet grass 
and rushes. The eggs had been floated out of the nest 
by the extraordinary rise of the tide in a violent north- 
east storm, and lay scattered about among the drift | 
weed. The female, however, still lingered near the 
spot, to which she was so attached, as to suffer herself 
to be taken by hand. She doubtless intended to repair 
her nest, and commence laying anew ; as, during the 
few hours that she was in our possession, she laid one 
egg, corresponding in all respects with the others. On 
examining those floated out of the nest, they contained 
young, perfectly formed, but dead. The usual number 
of eggs is from six to ten. They are shaped like those 
of the domestic hen, measuring one inch and two-tenths 
long, by very nearly half an inch in width, and are of a 
dirty white, or pale cream colour, sprinkled with specks 
of reddish and pale purple, most numerous near the 
great end. They commence laying early in May, and 
probably raise two brood in the season. I suspect this 
from the circumstance of Mr Ord having, late in the 
month of July, brought me several young ones of only a 
few days old, which were caught among the grass near 
