286 GAME BIEDS OF CALIFORNIA 



of which contained eight and nine eggs respectively. On May 11, 

 1884, Emerson (1885, p. 142) found nine nests from which the young 

 had hatched and departed, while on May 4, 1885, three nests. of eight 

 eggs each were found by him. On June 3, 1883, he found a nest of 

 seven eggs on the point of hatching. The latest date of which we have 

 record is June 29, 1894, when a set of six eggs with incubation com- 

 menced was found by H. R. Taylor in the Alameda County marshes 

 (Mailliard coll.) . Thus it will be seen that the breeding season extends 

 from the middle of March to the end of June, but that the bulk of the 

 birds nest between the middle of April and the middle of May. 



A high piece of marsh ground, usually on the bank of a slough, is 

 selected for a nesting site. The nest may be concealed in salt grass 

 or pickle-weed, or under a small bush. It is a platform built up three 

 to six inches above the ground, and measures about ten inches across 

 with a cavity in the center one and one-half inches deep. Grasses or 

 dead and living stems of pickle-weed are used for building material. 

 A well-marked trail leading off through the adjacent vegetation is 

 usually discernible. A nest examined by the authors on May 7, 1914, 

 was composed of closely matted Salicornia stems, some of the stems 

 being bent over from the growing plants surrounding it. The struc- 

 ture was well-saucered, the cavity containing the eggs being five and 

 one-half inches across and one and one-half inches deep. The rim was 

 two and one-half inches above the ground which Avas still wet from a 

 recent high tide. The nearest slough was twenty feet away. 



Eight or nine eggs constitute a full set ; these are of a light creamy 

 buff color, spotted, often blotched, with reddish brown and lavender 

 markings, the latter appearing as if beneath the shell. These mark- 

 ings are rather evenly distributed over the egg surface, perhaps a 

 trifle more numerous on the larger end. The eggs are shaped like 

 hen 's eggs, possibly slightly more pointed on the average ; forty-one 

 measured by Emerson (1885, p. 143) ranged in inches from 1.61 to 

 1.82 by 1.17 to 1.30 and averaged 1.72 by 1.23. 



Like some other rails this one sometimes builds nests which it never 

 uses. Three or four new nests, often uncompleted, apparently possess- 

 ing all the advantages of the one used, are occasionally to be found in 

 the near vicinity of an occupied nest. Nor is this bird averse to adopt- 

 ing places out of the ordinary for building its nest. Nests have been 

 found in old barrels, and one was found on a pile of hay near a salt 

 marsh (H. R. Taylor, 1894, p. 154). Adams (1900, p. 32) states that 

 both parents are often seen about the nest and that it is certain that 

 the male assists in incubation. The female is a very close sitter and 

 will sometimes remain on the nest until the intruder is within two 

 feet of her. She will then jump from the nest and either fly away, 

 or glide swiftly through the grass or along the edge of a slough. 



