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THE OOLOGIST 



Nesting of the King Rail. 

 By P. B. Peabody. 

 Editor, THE OOLOGIST: 



There is truth in your comment, in 

 July, current issue of the OOLOGIST; 

 that "it is the misfortune of Ameri- 

 can Ornithology, relative to many 

 species; our most common, everyday 

 birds are over-looked in the strenuous 

 hunt for rarities." 



Yet I am compelled to say, as one 

 result of my own "strenuous hunt" 

 after data covering our "mosi com- 

 mon, everyday birds," that there is 

 really more literature concerning it- 

 self vi'ith the habits of common birds, 

 than one is apt to imagine. The ac- 

 companying pages afford a by-no- 

 means unusual example of the large 

 amount of fugitive literature which 

 aboimds in the choicest and most valu- 

 able material for the bird student. The 

 excerpts from the manuscript of my 

 work are given verbatim; and I ap- 

 pend material of my own: 



(From jManuscript of Nesting 

 Ways of North American Birds) : 



'The nests of the King Rail are 

 coarsely built of grass or rushes; and 

 are placed amid rushes or grass. P. 

 M. Silloway has made ample study of 

 the nestings. Let us consult him: 



(King) Rails locate their nests 

 where water is receding; and they 

 perhaps intend that the ground shall 

 be uncovered of water when the young 

 step from the nest. I never found 

 late nests on the dry or uncovered 

 ground; but I have examined nests 

 with incubated eggs in the outer flags 

 where the ground was uncovered; and 

 even baked hard. 



"The ordinary nest is made of bits 

 of rushes lined with softer portions 

 of rush. King Rails canopy their 

 nests; and the presence of the shelter 

 made by the drooping (sic) and draw- 

 ing together of the tops of the stems 



is a pretty sure index of a nest with 

 its full complement.* The eggs num- 

 ber (for Illinois), from eight to four- 

 teen; sets of ten, eleven and twelve 

 being most common." (Some Com- 

 mon Birds, 307). Two sets are laid, 

 in the South. In South Carolina First 

 sets are laid between May 10 and June 

 15; while the later biK)ods are nascent 

 between June 20 and July 15. One 

 brood, only, is raised, more northerly. 

 In Stafford County, Kansas, the Au- 

 thor found nests only just ready for 

 occupancy the First of June. Iowa 

 nests are "full" as eaidy as May 20. 

 In Minnesota the layings are complet- 

 ed between June 10 and the First of 

 July. In the North, (at least), a King 

 Rail nest may be found at times, at 

 some little distance from water. Most 

 Rails will play this trick, occasionally, 

 (especially the Virginia). 



"Parasitism prevails with the King 

 Rail; as with many water birds. B. H. 

 Swales reported, from a little swamp, 

 near Detroit, Michigan, a nest contain- 

 ing, June, nine eggs of the host; sev- 

 en of the Virginia Rail; and one of the 

 Sora. And Mr. Silloway says: "I 

 found a nest containing eight eggs of 

 the (Florida) Gallinule and five eggs 

 of the (King) Rail, the Rail being the 

 usurper." (op. & los. cit., supra). The 

 writer has long been interested in the 

 King Rail; through the very casual- 

 ness of his acquaintance with it. 

 Glimpses of this "folio edition" of the 

 familiar Virginia Rail, seen at famous 

 Heron Lake, Minnesota, and in the 

 outskirts of the City of St. Paul, and 

 again in the smaller marshes of South- 

 ern Minnesota, have kindled in my 

 soul desire to find the nest of this 

 greatest of North American Rails. 



In early June, 1908, I was being 

 clumsily trundled along through the 

 sand dunes of Stafford County, Kan- 

 sas, en route for the big salt marshes; 



