Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2002 07:39:59 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Jim Felley Subject: Rails under water (was Bitterns swimming) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable When I was in southwestern Louisiana in the 1980's, the manager of the Sabine NWR (Mr. Walther) told me this story: While leading a party of birders, they all saw a Yellow Rail dive = into a tussock of grass. The tussock was completely surrounded by=20 water, so the birders all waded in and surrounded the tussock. They carefully looked through all the grass blades - nothing! Mr. Walther then dug his hands into the tussock, under water, and came up with the bird: It had been underwater, clinging to a piece of vegetation by its beak! Jim Jim Felley Smithsonian Institution =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D irmss668@sivm.si.edu =========================================================================