134 



THE OOLOGISl 



as the other two varieties and fre- 

 quently wanders, or appears out of its 

 environments. 



Several years ago, I received a tele- 

 phone call at my office one morning, 

 from a friend whose headquarters are 

 in the very center of Chicago. On 

 entering his suite, he found wander- 

 ing about the room cf a ten story 

 building, one of these Carolina Rails. 

 The bird manifested no fear or dis- 

 comforture in association of human 

 beings. The little fellow was captur- 

 ed and placed in a waste basket await- 

 ing my arrival. 



The Sora has been observed, on 

 prairies about farm houses, feeding in 

 company with chickens. Their flute- 

 like notes are uttered in ascending 

 scale, after the manner of our field 

 sparrow. 



The Florida GaUinule is known lo- 

 cally as the Rice Hen. They are very 

 wary and probably the noisiest of the 

 family. Frequenting deeper water 

 than the true Rail, they rarely expose 

 themselves except when actually flush- 

 ed. Where the marshes are transvers- 

 ed with telegraph lines,this bird seems 

 to have the misfortune of flying 

 against the wires and frequently suf- 

 fering fatal injury. 



These four members of the Ralli- 

 dae are extremely nocturnal and the 

 discordant sounds issuing from their 

 throats, produce as much confusion 

 as a quantity of domestic ducks, 

 geese, turkeys and chickens together 

 on a poultry farm. All have a habit, 

 especially the King, of postponing 

 nest building until the eleventh hour. 

 I have found a single egg lying in 

 what appeared to be nothing but a 

 very small mass of wet vegetation. 

 As the bird continued laying, she add- 

 ed to the size of her nest and when 

 the complete compliment of eggs, 

 ranging from seven to fourteen are 

 laid, the nest is found to be a well 



built structure, and quite compact 

 for a bird of this nature. 



In seasons of heavy rain fall, par- 

 ticularly during the spring of 1902, I 

 recall vividly, how the King Rails, 

 after being deprived of their first set- 

 ting by the unusually high water re- 

 treated to the meadows and timothy 

 fields. In a radius of one-fourth mile, 

 I found six nests, during the last 

 week of May. The sites were hill 

 sides, twenty-five feet above the 

 n]arsh where the water had flooded 

 their first abode. 



I quote a few extracts from my 

 note book which are quite becoming 

 to the eccentric disposition of the 

 King Rail. 



"May 11th, 1902, found nest com- 

 posed of dead rushes, built on a float- 

 ing mass cf the same in water two 

 feet deep. Location, fifty feet in the 

 rear of barn and within one hundred 

 yards of several residences. Bird 

 swam from nest which contained ten 

 fresh eggs. May 25, 1902. Female 

 flushed from eggs. Nest compactly 

 built of dry grass stems, and placed 

 two feet from the ground in willow 

 tree situated in center of small la- 

 goon. Eggs ten and perfectly fresh. 

 June 19th, 1902. Female lifted from 

 nest containing ten incubated eggs. 

 Nest dry grass and slightly hollowed. 

 Location on ground in timothy hay 

 field, twenty-five yards on either side 

 of Oak Grove or Pond. Four nests 

 within radius of few rods. June 19th, 

 1902. Flushed parent. Nest well con- 

 structed and built almost entirely of 

 dead oak leaves. Situated in same 

 field as the last described nest, but 

 nearer to the grove and almost under 

 the shelter of an oak tree. 



Typical nests of the King Rail are 

 well concealed in some tussock of 

 rank grass, and perhaps not to exceed 

 one hundred feet, from a road, or car 

 track. 



