306 Sketches of Some Coynmon Birds. 



The belated wanderer can see these birds flying in the 

 twilight on their way to their feeding grounds. It is 

 probable that they are somewhat nocturnal in their habits, 

 feeding chiefly at night and resting in their reedy hiding 

 places through the day. 



The nests of the king rails are usually covered with 

 water, or where the water is shallow, but when the banks 

 of the swamps are more sloping the nests are made in 

 tufts in the deeper water, though more nests are found in 

 the fringing flags. I learned mentally to divide the width 

 of flags in large swamps into three zones, the outer one 

 occupied by the rails, the middle one by the coots, galli- 

 nules, and bitterns, and the inner third by the bitterns 

 and grebes, though each species named can be found nest- 

 ing in all parts of a swamp to a limited extent. The late 

 nests are found nearer the open water, and the nests with 

 incubated eggs are found in the drier area in the borders 

 of the swamps. We may, therefore, generalize that the 

 rails locate' their nests where the 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 nests of the king rail are commonly made of small 

 pieces of flag stems, the material in the upper portion 

 having a softer texture than the rushes which form the 

 base of the nest. One of average dimensions is eight 

 inches in diameter externally, and six inches across the 

 shallow bed, the latter being one inch and three-fourths 

 in depth; a nest projects from six to ten inches above the 

 water in which the tuft of flags stands. In most instances 

 it is impossible to distinguish the nest of the king rail 

 from that of the Florida gallinule, usually found in the 

 same swamps, by the construction alone; yet the drooping 

 of the tops of the flags in the tufts containing the rail's 

 nest is almost characteristic, and is only rarely seen in the 

 nest of the gallinule. On the other hand, the habitation 

 of the king rail is rarely found open above. Many nests 

 of the gallinule average much larger than any nest of 

 the rail. 



