328 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Richard C. Harlow (1913), who has probably found more black 

 rails' nests than anyone else in North America, thus describes the 

 first two nests seen by him in New Jersej', one of which was collected 

 for him — 



on the edge of the marshes back of Brigantine, on June 20, 1912. On the 29tb 

 I visited the nest from which the set had been taken. It was built in a low 

 marshy meadow, overgrown with salt grass and sedge and very skillfully concealed 

 in a thick mass of mixed green and dead grass, so that it was completely hidden 

 from above. In composition, it was better built and deeper cupped than the 

 nests of the Virginia, sora, king, and clapper rails that I have seen. In size the 

 nest was little larger than the average structure of the robin, but deeper-cupped 

 and built entirely of the dry, yellowish stalks of the sedges, and there in the lin- 

 ing, clung several black feathers. Thinking that there might be other nests in 

 the vicinity we began searching everj'^ thick ciump of marsh grass that we saw> 

 and presently came upon another also containing seven eggs. It was placed 

 among thick clumps of marsh grass and was quite invisible until the grass v/ast 

 parted from above. It was an inch above the salt meadow and was interwoven 

 on all sides with the surrounding stalks. 



On June 10, 1903, a small negro boy showed to Arthur T. Wayne 

 (1905) a nest he had found on the ground in an oat field, near Mount 

 Pleasant in South Carolina. "The nest contained eight eggs, and 

 was built among the oats on high ground, and made entirely of the 

 dry oat leaves arranged in a circular manner, but not arched over.'^ 



George H. Stuart, 3d, has sent me the following notes: 



On July 4, 1919, Julian K. Potter and the writer flushed a small rail in a marsh 

 an acre or two in extent beyond the sand dunes immediately back of the ocean 

 beach on an island below Beach Haven, N. J. Searching for the nest in the 

 belief that the bird was a little black rail, we were rewarded by finding it placed 

 in the long grass, the tops of v/hich were so drawn over as to almost comx^letely 

 hide the eggs from view. The nest, which was composed entirely of the same 

 rather fine grass, was placed about one inch from the damp ground and contained 

 eight eggs, very heavily incubated. On returning several times at intervals of 

 10 minutes we had opportunities of observing the female on the nest, her bright 

 red eyes being the most prominent feature. On each occasion when leaving the 

 eggs it darted from the nest into the surroimding grass never raising and with 

 such celerity that it was impossible to observe her movement, the action resem- 

 bling more that of a mouse than a bird. 



Donald J. Nicholson sends me the following notes on the breeding 

 of tliis species in Florida: 



It was on the 13th of July, 1926, that I discovered the two sets of black rail, 

 on Merritt's Island, in the Dusky Seaside colony. I had just about given up 

 hope of finding any more sparrow nests when I heard a pair singing and thought 

 I would take one more last search for them before going home. I got out of the 

 car and was going over to where they were when, under my feet, a small black 

 bird rose feebly and flew wabbly and weakly, low over the salicornia, and 

 dropped into the dense growth 20 feet away. At first I thought it was a young 

 bird of some kind, but the thought struck me that it might be the rare species of 

 which we had no breeding record, so I began a search and almost immediately 

 upon parting the grass 7 feet from where it rose I looked upon a cozy small nest 



