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Range (Breeds from northern Illinois) (II)

Breeds from northern Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Long Island to Manitoba and Labrador; winters from near the southern limit of its breeding range southward.

Washington, probably P. R. Long Island, common S. R., Apl. to Oct.; a RAILS, GALLINULES, AND COOTS. few winter. Sing Sing, tolerably common S. R. to Sept. 29. Cambridge, common S. R., Apl. 20 to Oct. 15.

Nest, of grasses, on the ground in marshes. Eggs, six to twelve, pale buffy white , spotted and speckled with rufous-brown, 1.26 × 96.

In almost any extensive fresh or brackish marsh, especially if it has beds of cat-tail flags or scattered thickets of low bushes and briers, one may hear in May and June, particularly in the early morning, late afternoon, or during cloudy weather, a succession of grunting sounds not unlike those of a hungry pig. Although by no means loud, they have a penetrating quality which makes them carry to a considerable distance; and they are apt to attract attention even when, as is usually the case, they mingle with the songs of innumerable Red-winged Blackbirds, Marsh Wrens, and other swamp-loving birds. It is no easy matter to trace them to their author, but if you are persevering and at the same time fortunate, you may at length discover him skulking under a bush or behind a tuft of grass. He is the Virginia Rail, an odd-looking bird about the size of a Snipe. If you remain motionless, he may presently come out into fairer view and walk slowly around the edge of some pool, lifting and putting down his large feet with curious deliberation, cocking up his absurdly short tail at each step, and every now and then stopping to thrust his bill deep into the ooze in search of food. As he pauses to look at you, you are struck by his half-quizzical, half-sinister expression, due, no doubt, to the fact that his eyes are blood-red and deeply sunk in their long, narrow head. Startle him by some sudden movement, and he will do one of three things-dart back into cover as swiftly as a frightened mouse, skip across the pool over the floating leaves of the water plants, using both wings and feet, or rise with feebly fluttering wings and hanging legs to fly only a few rods before dropping beyond some intervening screen of grass or bushes. In any case you are not likely to find him again on this occasion on this occasion.

Besides the grunting sound, the Virginia Rail utters during the breeding season, especially at night and in lowering weather, a guttural cut, cùtta-cutta-cutta, often repeated at brief intervals for hours in succession. This cry appears to be peculiar to the male, and is, no doubt, his love song. When heard at a distance of only a few yards it , his love song. When heard at a distance of only a few yards it has a vibrating, almost unearthly quality, and seems to issue from the ground directly beneath one's feet. The female, when anxious about her eggs or young, calls ki-ki-ki in low tones, and kìu much like a