108 



THE OOLOGIST. 



lected forty-nine sets of three eggs, 

 seventy-eight sets of four, and only 

 seventeen sets of five. But unfortun- 

 ately for comparison, my reisords of 

 nests with young and of sets not 

 taken are not available, as they are 

 scattered promiscuously through the 

 pages of my notes, and to search them 

 out would require more time than I 

 have to spare. Suffice to say, they 

 bear out the above ratio, except that 

 very few nests contained under four 

 young, and from this fact I infer that 

 at least one-half of the sets of three 

 eggs I have collected have been in- 

 complete clutches, inasmuch as they 

 were mostly fresh. 



A study of the foregoing shows that 

 one clutch in every eight consisted of 

 five eggs, a low proportion which is 

 borne out also in the number of 

 young and eggs not taken in nests 

 that have come under my observation. 



Here is Southeastern Pennsylvania 

 (if not elsewhere) four eggs is the 

 average of a set, five of common 

 enough occurrence, as not to be re- 

 garded as rare, and three occurring 

 still more fr-^quently. 



I have never found over five eggs 

 in a nest except once, when a nest 

 containing six eggs was examined. 

 These were laid by two females, four 

 by one and two by another, as a blind 

 person could have ascertained by 

 touch — they differed that much in 

 shape and size. 



Let us hear from others concerning 

 ti^e number of eggs constituting a set 

 of the Swamp Sparrow, whether it 

 is usually four or five eggs. 

 R. F. MILLER 



July 1, 1909. 



The King Rail. 



July 4th, Ye Editor took a ramble 

 through one of the swamps near La- 

 con, Illinois, and in the course of the 

 day, found the nest of fhis species sit- 

 uated in a tuft of grass growing in 

 the midst of an extremely soft marsn, 

 the surface of which was level, and ex- 

 cept for the tufts of grass sticking up 

 here and there, almost without vege- 

 tation. In one of these tufts of grass, 

 Mrs. Rail had built a nest composed 

 wholly of dry grass stems, in which 

 she had deposited eight eggs. Wad- 

 ing through mud that was more than 



knee deep, she permitted us to get 

 within a couple of feet of the nest 

 before flushing, and then flew not over 

 five or six feet, and lit and set up the 

 mose doleful protest imaginable, cack- 

 ling and squealing and squacking at a 

 tremendous rate, spreading herself out 

 on the mud and thrashing around as 

 though she had suffered an injury of 

 some kind. We stood perfectly still 

 and much to our surprise she return- 

 ed and walked up towards the nest, all 

 the time keeping up the noisy protes- 

 tation, and tilting herself until her 

 tail was nearly verticle, and her 

 breast against the mud, and her wings 

 outstretched, she advanced until she 

 was within arm's length of Ye Editor. 

 She would then back off; and she re- 

 peated this very unusual demonstra- 

 tion several different times. 



Finally tiring of the uncomfortable 

 situation in the mud, we started to 

 plough on. We passed the nest, which 

 alarmed her further, and she then took 

 to the bushes some twenty yards away. 



The eggs were eight in number, and 

 evidently much incubated. We left 

 the nest and eggs undisturbed. 



It was our purpose to write an arti- 

 cle relative to this species for this is- 

 sue, but upon an examination of the 

 books in our library, we were sur- 

 prised at the paucity of information 

 relative to the habits of the King 

 Rail. The bird is a fairly common 

 breeder in this locality, and yet, 

 should a person desire to advise him- 

 self carefully and fully regarding the 

 habits of this bird, we would not know 

 where to direct him. Nearly all the 

 books will tell of its range, and some 

 few give very slight reference to its 

 habits; many will tell of its nest be- 

 ing located in a swamp, and yet, af- 

 ter a long research, the searcher will 

 be astonished to see how little he has 

 learned regarding the real, everyday 

 life of this common bird. 



Such truly is the misfortune of 

 American Ornithology relative to many 

 species — our most common, everyday 

 birds are overlooked in the strenuous 

 hunt for rarities. 



We present herewith a photo of a 

 nest of this species taken in this coun- 

 ty by W. E. Loucks, formerly of Pe- 

 oria, Illinois. The nest photograph- 

 ed, was within one hundred feet of 

 an occupied dwelling house in the 



