306 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



few eggs are laid, as is shown by the protracted period of hatching ; 

 nests often contain young birds just hatched, others hatching, and 

 eggs in various stages of development. The birds stick to their nests 

 very closely and hatch the eggs even when they are partially sub- 

 merged. It is inconceivable how so small a bird can successfully 

 cover and hatch such large numbers of eggs, even when they are 

 arranged in two layers, as is generally the case ; but it is accomplished 

 somehow, probably by frequently shifting the eggs and by close sit- 

 ting. One seldom sees a rail leave its nest, but always finds warm 

 eggs ; the bird slips quietly off and disappears. 



The young rails are very precocious. They leave the nest soon 

 after they are hatched, or immediately if necessary. W. Leon Daw- 

 son (1903) says: 



I once came upon a nestful in a secluded spot at the critical time. Hearing 

 my distant footsteps most of the brood had taken to their new-found heels^ 

 leaving two luckless wights in ovo. At my approach one more prison door flew 

 open. The absurd fluff ball rolled out, shook itself, grasped the situation^ 

 promptly tumbled over the side of the nest, and started to swim across a 6-foot 

 pool to safety. 



Dr. Morris Gibbs (1899) writes: 



It is but natural to suppose that the male Carolina rail assists in the care of 

 the young as the mother sets and brings the little fellow out slowly; and this is 

 found to be true, as I have seen the black animated fluffy bunches of down 

 patterning after the old man. The young leave the nest about as soon as they 

 are hatched and run among the grass and rushes. A large number of them 

 must become prey for their enemies in the marsh, for notwithstanding the large 

 sets of eggs laid by all of the members of this family, none of them appear to 

 increase to any extent. 



Edward H. Forbush (1914) observes: 



The young of this bird have often been mistaken for those of the little black 

 rail. They are certainly both small and sable. When they once leave the nest, 

 they are constantly in danger. Most of the larger animals and birds of the 

 marshes, from the sandhill crane down to the mink, devour the eggs and young 

 of rails wherever they find them. In the water, snakes, frogs, fish, and turtles 

 lie constantly in wait to swallow them. They soon become experts in climbing 

 and hiding. They can clamber up and down the water-plants, or run through 

 them over the water by clinging to the upright stems. They swim more like a 

 chicken than like a duck, nodding their little heads comically as they advance. 

 Necessity soon teaches them to drop into the water and dive like a stone t» 

 safety. 



In some notes sent to me by Miss Althea R. Sherman she mentions 

 seeing a brood of young soras in which the birds were of different 

 ages; "one was still covered with black down, one was quite well 

 feathered, and one midway between them," indicating that they were 

 hatched at different dates. She says that they "ran about in a 

 lively fashion and fed hke the adults from seeds and insects picked 

 from the surface of the water." 



