NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 279 



similarly under a bunch of drifted dead sedges. One nest was found 

 in a colony of Forster terns, within 3 feet of a tern's nest. 



Eggs. — The clapper rail lays from G to 14 eggs, but the usual num- 

 bers run from 9 to 12. The shape is ovate and the shell is smooth 

 and more or less glossy. The ground color varies from warm, yel- 

 lowish buff to pale, greenish buff, or from dull, "cream buff" or 

 "pinkish buff" to "ivory yellow" or "pale olive buff." The eggs 

 are irregularly marked with small blotches and spots of various 

 shades of browns and drabs. Some eggs are richly colored with 

 bold markings, others are finely speckled and some are very spar- 

 ingly spotted. They average darker in color and are usually more 

 heavily marked than the eggs of the king rail. The measurements 

 of 50 eggs average 42.5 by 30 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four 

 extremes measure 48.5 by 31, 44 by 31.5, 37.5 by 28, and 41 by 27.5 

 millimeters. 



Young. — The period of incubation is said to bo 14 days and it is 

 probably performed by both sexes. The young are precocial and 

 leave the nest soon after they are hatched, to follow their mother 

 through the marshes and learn to procure their own food. Under 

 her guidance they soon learn to swim and to run and hide in the 

 great jungle of marsh grass, where they are comparatively safe from 

 most of their enemies. 



Plumages. — The downy young clapper rail is wholly covered with 

 soft, thick, jet black down, glossy above and dull black below. 

 The Juvenal plumage appears first on the sides of the breast, where 

 it is "mouse gray" or "pale mouse gray" in color; wliitish feathers 

 then invade the ventral region, a central strip of black down being 

 the last to disappear from the breast; the back then becomes feath- 

 ered with "hair bro^vn" and "mouse gray" plumage; the young bird 

 is fully half gro^vn before the head becomes feathered or the wings 

 start to grow; the latter are not fully grown until the young bird is 

 completely feathered and has reached its full size. 



In the full Juvenal plumage some of the races can be recognized 

 by their characteristic colorings. In crepitans, from Virginia, the 

 upper parts are mainly olive drab with broad edgings of "Quaker 

 drab"; the under parts are mostly dull whitish, washed with pale 

 buff on the neck and variegated with "pale Quaker drab" on the 

 sides. In scotti from Florida, the upper parts are much darker, 

 nearly black with "clove brown" edgings; the sides of the head and 

 flanks are lighter " clove brown"; and the throat and under parts 

 are huffy white with dusky tipped feathers. In saturatus, from Texas , 

 the Juvenal plumage is darker and more richly colored than in 

 crepitans, but not nearly so dark as in scotti. 



The Juvenal plumage is short lived, for almost as soon as it is com- 

 pelted a molt of the contour plumage begins to produce the first 



