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 Author 
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- 
1539 
