IDYLLS OF BIRD LIFE 
All the rails are known as nocturnal feeders, so I thought 
I would pay them a night visit and perhaps learn something 
-''of tJtjeir feeding habits. I chose a bright night with a full moon 
directly overhead in a starlit sky. The trip down the river was 
enchantiti^ this wondrous night. As I neared the nest of the 
rails I brought the canoe into the shore and landed. 
he surrounding country was lit up like day, which made 
^rrfy locating the nest less difficult. All through the marshy 
land I could hear a series of notes, “kek, k! k! kewee, peet! peet! 
U ^-^hfclfkept up all the time I was in the vicinity. I readily identi- 
•vvlth'them if one could judge from the calls that issued from the 
lied the notes as belonging to the rails. The place seemed alive 
marshv?o> 
: /o £ 
ith some difficulty I made out the nest of the sora, and 
Ftesurprised to see the female bird closely sitting her 
eggs^ Her voice was not joined in the rail chorus, which makes 
e male birds of the neighborhood produced the not 
■o ^ 
_ 
- unfrVusicah entertainment. 
I could hear slight splashes occasionally, but try as I would, 
,' i I could see no other birds about, and yet I knew the place was 
| full of them. The rails were able to flit about through a maize' 
stalks and reeds, owing toTheir compressed Todies, built to 
mWw/t.i / A/i l 
