night, is extremely loud and rapid, its termination lower and protracted.
At the report of a gun, when thousands of these birds instantaneously
burst forth with their cries, you may imagine what an uproar* they make.
This bird seems to possess the power of ventriloquism, for, when several
hundred yards off, its voice often seems to be issuing from the grass
around you. At this period, the males are very pugnacious, and combats
are rife until each has selected a female for the season. The males stand
erect and cry aloud the least sound they hear, guard their mates, and
continue faithfully to protect them until the young make their appearance.
These come more under the care of the mother, who leads them
about until they have attained a considerable size, and are able to shift
for themselves. The nest is large, constructed of marsh plants, and fastened
to the stems in the midst of the thickest tufts, above high-water
mark. The materials of which it is formed are so well interlaced with
the plants around them, as to prevent their being washed away by extraordinarily
high tides, which, however, sometimes carry off and destroy
the eggs, as well as many of the sitting birds, whose attachment to them
is so great, that they are now and then drowned while endeavouring to
keep them safe. The nest is very deep, so that the eggs seem placed in
the bottom of a bowl or funnel. They are from eight to fifteen in number,
measure an inch and a half in length by one and an eighth in breadth,
and have a pale buff colour, sparingly sprinkled with light umber and
purplish spots. The period of incubation is fourteen days. When undisturbed,
this species lays only one set of eggs in the season ; but as the
eggs are in request as a delicious article of food, they are gathered in
great numbers, and I myself have collected so many as seventy-two
dozens in the course of a day. The nest is generally open at top, and
then is very easily discovered, although sometimes the reeds are so arranged
about them as to conceal them from the view. When the birds are sitting,
they suffer you to approach within a few feet; but, as if aware of
your intention, they glide away in silence to some distance, and remain
crouched among the grass until you have retired. When, on returning,
the poor bird finds that her treasure has been stolen, she immediately
proclaims her grief aloud, and in this is joined by her faithful mate. In
a few days, however, more eggs are deposited, although, I believe, never
in the same nest. This species may be called gregarious, yet the nests
are seldom nearer to each other than five or ten yards. They are placed
in the thickest and most elevated tufts of grass, principally near the edges
of the many lagoons that everywhere intersect the sea marshes, so that a
man may go from one to another, finding them with ease as he proceeds
along the muddy shores. In the Jerseys, it forms almost a regular occupation
to collect the eggs of this bird, and there I have seen twenty or
more persons gathering them by thousands during the season; in fact, it
is not an uncommon occurrence for an egger to carry home a hundred
dozens in a day; and when this havock is continued upwards of a month,
you may imagine its extent. The abundance of the birds themselves is
almost beyond belief; but if you suppose a series of salt marshes twenty
miles in length, and a mile in breadth, while at every eight or ten steps
one or two birds may be met with, you may calculate their probable
number.
During ebb, the Clapper Rail advances towards the edge of the waters
as they recede, and searches, either among the grasses, or along the
deep furrows made by the ebb and flow of the tides, for its food, which
consists principally of small crabs, a species of salt-water snail attached
to the rushes, the fry of fishes, aquatic insects, and plants. When the
tide flows, they gradually return, and at high-water they resort to the
banks, where they remain concealed until the waters begin to retreat.
This species is by no means exclusively nocturnal, for it moves about in
search of food during the whole of the day, in this respect resembling the
Gallinules. Their courage is now and then brought to the test by the
sudden approach of some of their winged enemies, such as a Hawk or an
Owl, especially the Marsh Hawk, which is often attacked by them while
sailing low over the grass in which they are commonly concealed. On
such occasions, the Rail rises a few yards in the air, strikes at the marauder
with bill and claws, screaming aloud all the while, and dives again
among the grass, to the astonishment of the bird of prey, which usually
moves off at full speed. They are not so fortunate in their encounters
with such hawks as pounce from on high on their prey, such as the Redtailed
and Red-shouldered Hawks, against which they have no chance of
defending themselves. Minxes, racoons, and wild cats destroy a great
number of them during night, and many are devoured by turtles and ravenous
fishes ; but their worst enemy is man. My friend BACHMAN has
shot so many as sixty in the course of four hours, and others have killed
double that number in double the time.
T he Salt-water Marsh Hen swims with considerable ease, though not
swiftly or gracefully. While in this act, it extends its neck forward, and
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