THE OOLOGIST. 



135 



The King, Virginia and Sora Rails 

 are very sociable and naturally gre- 

 garious. I have found them nesting 

 in colonies and this is particularly 

 true of the Sora. The latter variety 

 often deposits her eggs at intervals 

 of more than one day apart. A com- 

 plete set, ranging from seven to four- 

 teen eggs vary greatly in the develop- 

 ment of their contents. Eggs of this 

 variety show greater variation than 

 the products of the other Rallidae. 



Many domicles of the Virginia are 

 adeptly concealed, under the weather 

 beaten masses of marsh grass. They 

 can be found only l)y uncovering the 

 last year's growth, as you make your 

 way through the vegetation. 



These nests are reached by the 

 birds in a round about way. A little 

 tunnel seems to exist which permits 

 a bird to vacate her nest without be- 

 ing seen by the observer until she is 

 at a point perhaps twelve feet from 

 her treasures 



This trait is most characteristic of 

 the Virginia. The King, or Red-breast- 

 ed Rail invariably weaves a canopy 

 over her nest, but the artificial meth- 

 od employed thus can be detected by 

 a trained eye many yards away, and 

 is only a tell tale sign, to the collec- 

 tor, but probably serves its purpose 

 in concealing the sitting bird from 

 raptores and is also a relief from the 

 beating rays of the noon-day sun. 



The Carolina Rail and Florida Gal- 

 linule construct their nests very 

 much along the same lines and choose 

 situations quite similar. Typical 

 nests of both the later varieties have 

 the characteristic run-ways or path 

 leading over the edge of the nest in- 

 to the shallow water. This path is 

 constructed from the same material as 

 the nest proper. The larger bird, 

 swims quietly from her eggs, when 

 disturbed. The Sora exits quietly 

 on foot. Occasionally I have met 



with the little Yellow Rail whose eggs 

 are by far, the handsomest of marsh 

 birds. A set of nine in my collection 

 are marked exclusively and en- 

 tirely on the large end with lavender, 

 heliotrope and hrown. The back 

 ground for a space not to exceed one- 

 half inch in diameter is completely 

 hidden by this beautiful combination 

 of specks. The immaculate portion 

 of deep cream, almost approaching a 

 salmon tint. 



I have never had the fortune of 

 personally disclosing a nest of this 

 bird, nor can I claim such an ac- 

 quaintance with the still smaller and 

 rarer Black Rail. The latter variety 

 is represented in my collection by a 

 set of 8 eggs, light cream in color, 

 dotted evenly over the entire surface, 

 though rather sparingly, with mark- 

 ing of dark brown. 



Gerard Alan Abbott. 



Bird Notes from El Rancho, Va. 



Migration is now in full swing, 

 Kingbirds, Orioles, Swallows, Swifts, 

 Purple Martins and Grosbeaks have 

 left us. Nighthawks, Bobolinks, 

 Coopers, Red-tailed and Sharp-shin- 

 ned Hawks are passing through and 

 these moonlight nights, one can hear 

 at any time the notes of birds pass- 

 ing overhead, the loudest, but not 

 most attractive, that of the Night 

 Heion. From Sunday, Aug. 23nl un- 

 til the 29th we had almost continual 

 rain. 



The Purple Martins seemed to suf- 

 fer most — the young seeking shelter 

 from the wet in almost any sheltered 

 place. The Martin box on the front 

 lawn made a fine shelter for them and 

 was sometimes literally covered with 

 bii-ds — while inside, the twelve holes 

 were filled. On the porches of the 

 box on the protected side they sat 

 huddled closely together the greater 



