100 WATER BIRDS 
skulk or dive rather than fly, and refuse to desert the 
nest. About the middle of April they commence to 
make a nest of marsh grass on a tussock, and from that 
time on are devoted to it. Eight or nine eggs are laid, 
and incubation lasts nineteen to twenty-three days. The 
young Rails run about within an hour after hatching, and 
look much like tiny black chickens with overgrown legs 
and bills. If discovered on a mud flat, they crouch 
motionless like so many small black lumps of dirt or 
stones, and though one may know where to search, it is 
hard to find them. The immature rails are as stupid 
as the adults, and will often allow themselves to be 
picked up without trying to get away. Their food con- 
sists largely of the larvee of marsh insects which they 
pick up in the shallow water and along shore, and 
mature insects of all sorts, as well as small crustaceans. 
As is well known, certain varieties of marsh birds build 
several nests, using but one. The “dummy” sometimes 
serves as a shelter for the adult male; sometimes the 
making of it seems to have been a mere pastime ; and, 
occasionally, as in the case of the clapper rail, it forms a 
convenient platform or nursery on which the young can 
scramble for a sun-bath when weary with their first 
swimming lessons. These unused nests are commonly 
placed close to the one occupied by the brood and closely 
resemble it. My own observations in this matter, made 
at Alviso, tally with those of Mr. Adams at San Fran- 
cisco Bay and Mr. Shields at Los Angeles. 
