The bill was soft and the feet strong, ft had 
not been out of the nest over a week. 
It hung onto ny finger while hanging back 
down. It was silent. Something had plucked its 
wing feathers so that it was not able to fly. 
Went on into Draper's meadow. That meadowlark's 
nest was empty save for the barren egg. 
Jim Draper and I went up to look at the barn 
swallow's nest. The female was on it. It was 
lined \ ith downy feathers and was built on the 
end of a board. By reaching out I could feel in 
it. There were 5 eggs. 
This afternoon I went dov/n in Seeley's marsh. 
There were lots of red-wings fussing around of 
course. Of a sudden I saw sanething going 
through the rank growth swiftly. I thought that 
it was a rat. It stepped into sight and it was 
a Virginia rail. It appeared to be very anxious 
and gave a harsh note like the kia of the flicker 
and a high ki ki . 
Then the male came. I saw a little black ball 
roll and tumble along some mud. It was a young 
rail just hatched. 
The entire plumage was deep black. Bill white 
with a black band around the middle. It could 
crawl around quite well and had strong black 
feet with 4 toes. The wings of course were mere 
bone covered with down. 
Once it uttered a very faint note that I 
could scarcely hear though only 4 feet away. I 
set the little fellow down once and he fell into 
a hole. Then he climbed up under the herbage and 
sat still. 
Finally I turned away while he was on the 
ground. When I looked he was gone. I did not 
hunt much for fear of stepping on him. 
Then I went back to where the old ones were. 
Saw another youngster. While looking at the 
ground I saw some fine egg shell on the ground. 
I stooped down to look at it. Suddenly I found 
myself looking into the best concealed nest in the 
world. It was built in a tussock of matted grass 
and was hidden by the grass. There , 
-nere were 3 eggs i n 
