28 GREAT RED-BREASTED RAIL.
in the interior of South Carolina, Georgia, the Floridas, and Louisiana,
from which a few migrate, and probably breed as far to the eastward as the
wet meadows of the Delaware and Schuylkil rivers, in the vicinity of which
I killed one female in New Jersey, a few miles from Camden, in July 1832,
in company with my friends EDWARD HARRIS and Mr OGDEN, of that
city. On inquiring of numerous hunters, I was told by several of them
that they now and then obtained a few of these birds, which they considered
as very rare, and knew only by the name of " King Rails."" On
recently examining the museums of our eastern cities my friend JOHN
BACHMAN saw only one specimen; and Mr WILLIAM COOPER of New York
assured him that he had never seen any other individuals than those sent
to him from Charleston. Mr BACHMAN was present at the killing of a
specimen near Philadelphia, which was considered as a very old individual
of the Rallus crepitans. In Louisiana, the Creoles know this bird by the
name of Grand Rale de Prairie^
As the Fresh-water Marsh-Hen is abundant in South Carolina, I
shall attempt to describe its habits as observed in that State, both by myself
and by my friend JOHN BACHMAN, of whose notes, delivered to me for
the purpose, I shall make free use. " Although not nearly so numerous
as the other species, they are not rare in that country, in certain favourable
situations. Wherever there are extensive marshes by the sides of
sluggish streams, where the bellowings of the alligator are heard at intervals,
and the pipings of myriads of frogs fill the air, there is found the
Fresh-water Marsh-hen, and there it may be seen gliding swiftly among
the tangled rank grasses and aquatic weeds, or standing on the broad
leaves of the yellow Cyamus and fragrant Water-lily, or forcing its way
through the dense foliage of Pontederias and Sagittaria?. There, during
the sickly season, it remains secure from the search of man, and there, on
some hillock or little island of the marsh, it builds its nest. In such
places I have found so many as twenty pairs breeding within a space having
a diameter of thirty yards. The nests were placed on the ground,
and raised to the height of six or eight inches by means of withered weeds
and grasses. The number of eggs was nine or ten. About the middle
of March I found a few nests containing two or three eggs each ; but, in
my opinion, the greater number of these birds commence breeding about
the middle of April. They appear to repair their nests from time to time,
and to return to them several years in succession.""
The young, which are at first black, leave the nest as soon as they
GREAT RED-BREASTED RAIL. 29
burst the shell, and follow their mother, who leads them along the borders
of the streams and pools, where they find abundance of food, consisting
of grass-seeds, insects, tadpoles, leeches, and small crayfish. At
this early period, when running among the grass, which they do with
great activity, they may easily be mistaken for meadow-mice. My friend
BACHMAN, who had several times attempted to raise these birds, with the
view of domesticating them, did not succeed, principally, he thinks, on
account of the difficulty of procuring enough of their accustomed food.
They all died in a few days, although the greatest attention was paid to
them.
When grown they feed on a variety of substances, and it has appeared
to me that they eat a much greater proportion of seeds and other vegetable
matters than the Salt-water Marsh-Hens. It is true, however,
that, in the gizzard of the latter we find portions of the Spai'tina glabra;
but when that kind of food is not to be procured, which is the case during
three-fourths of the year, they feed principally on " Fiddlers," small
fish, and mollusca. In the gizzard of the present species, besides the food
already mentioned, I have always found a much greater quantity of the
seeds of such grasses as grow in the places frequented by them. On one
occasion I found the gizzard crammed with seeds of the cane (Arundo
tecta) ; and that of another contained a large quantity of the seed of the
common oat, which had evidently been picked up on a newly sown field
adjoining to the marsh. In autumn I have killed this species in cornfields,
in the company of JOHN BACHMAN, PAUL H. LEES, Esq. and
others. These birds are rarely shot by common gunners, on account of
the difficulty of raising them, and because they generally confine themselves
to places so swampy and covered with briars, smilaxes, and rough
weeds, that they are scarcely accessible. But although they are thus
safe from man, they are not without numerous enemies.
My friend BACHMAN once killed a large Moccasin snake, on opening
which he found an old bird of this species, that had evidently been swallowed
but a short time before. Its feathers are frequently found lying on
the banks of rice-fields, ponds, and lagoons, in places where the tracks of
the minx plainly disclose the plunderer. The Barred Owl and the Great
Horned Owl also occasionally succeed in capturing them in the dusk.
" On one occasion,11 says my friend BACHMAN, in a note addressed to me,
" while placed on a stand for deer, I saw a wild cat creeping through a
marsh that was near to me, evidently following by stealthy steps some