294 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



mud, so that the rim of the nest was 7 inches above the surface of the water. 

 The inside of the nest was rather shallow, 4^4 by 43^ inches in diameter, and 

 lined with cat-tail blade chips J^ to 2 inches in length. 



F. S. Hersey in his notes describes a nest that — 



was built up in a tussock of grass in a rather dry spot bordering a cat-tail marsh. 

 One end of the nest was somewhat depressed — in fact, so much that the eggs 

 rolled dangerously near the edge — and from the depressed side a narrow runway 

 sloped down about 2 feet to the level of the ground. 



P. L. Hatch (1892) noticed that when the first egg was laid there 

 was only a slight depression in the nest and he thinks that this be- 

 comes deeper as egg laying and incubation progress. He supposes 

 that the male continues to build up the structure around the female, 

 in which work she assists, and he also thinks that the weight of her 

 body helps to deepen the excavation. 



Eggs, — [Author's note: The Virginia rail lays from 7 to 12 eggs; 

 I have never heard of any larger sets. The eggs are easily distin- 

 guished from those of the sora rail, which often breeds in the same 

 marshes, as they are Hghter colored, less heavily marked, and less 

 glossy. In shape they vary from ovate to elongate ovate. The 

 shell is smooth with very little or no gloss. The ground color is pale 

 buff, varying from "pinkish buff" to "cartridge buff" or nearly white. 

 They are sparingly and irregularly spotted, often chiefly around the 

 larger end, with "hazel," "russet," "cinnamon-brown" and "army 

 brown"; some specimens have a few spots of light shades of "drab- 

 gray." The measurements of 73 eggs average 32 by 24.5 miUimeters; 

 the eggs showing the four extremes measure 36 by 24, 34 by 25.6, 29 

 by 22.6 millimeters.] 



Young. — The exact length of incubation has not been recorded, 

 but it is known to be not less than 15 days. The young come out 

 of the egg with their eyes open and are so active that they leave the 

 nest even before the coal-black down in which they are clad is dry. 

 The first chicks often leave the nest before the rest of the eggs are 

 hatched. In a few days, at the latest, the nest is deserted, in all 

 cases observed, although it is possible that when undisturbed by 

 visitors, human or other, the young may remain in the nest a little 

 longer. As the female begins incubation before all the eggs are laid, 

 several days may elapse between the hatching of the first and the 

 last egg. Bowdish (1891) says that the young are conducted away 

 by one parent as fast as hatched, while the other parent continues 

 to incubate. 



From the beginning, the downy young are good swimmers and 

 divers, and are well able to run over the ground and to climb about in 

 the reeds and grasses, making use of their large feet and claws and 

 of their httle wings, each of which is provided with a tiny claw on 

 the outer digit. 



