iS^'n Richmond, Habits of Porzana cincrcireps. 2C 



those found previously, which were in the open. I came upon 

 this nest so suddenly that I was enabled to see the bird, as it 

 hastily took its departure, run under the log. A few short squeaks 

 on my part sufficed to bring the bird (or its mate, possibly,) out 

 into plain sight. After shooting this one, which proved to be a 

 male, another bird was heard chipping in the same place, but the 

 most earnest squeaking failed to draw it out of hiding. The nest 

 contained five eggs within a day or two of hatching. The last 

 nest found by me was on August 26. This contained three some- 

 what incubated eggs. In construction and location it agreed 

 very well with the others. 



It did not occur to me at first why these birds located their nests 

 on the higher ground, away from their usual haunts, but in July, 

 at the height of the rainy season, we became accustomed to 

 almost weekly floods in the river, the water sometimes rising 

 fifteen or more feet in a single night. The Rails had learned the 

 lesson of the floods and had placed their nests on high ground. 

 Nests of the ' Red-rump ' or ' Soldier-bird ' {Ramphocclus passerlnii) 

 were occasionally found in the tall grass near the water, and these 

 nests must necessarily have been destroyed by the first flood, but, 

 while the Rails lived on the water's edge and knew the limit of 

 high water, the Soldier-birds passed their time in the plantations 

 and were less experienced in this respect. In flood time it was 

 not unusual to find, some morning, that the quiet river of the 

 night before had become a raging torrent, carrying uprooted trees, 

 banana plants, huge mahogany logs, fugitive canoes, and every- 

 thing that happened to be in its path, on to the sea. The current 

 carried an unbroken string of smaller debris, composed of vines, 

 bark, sticks, thousands of ' sea beans,' and other products of the 

 forests, while each floating mass contained its freight of ants, 

 spiders, tree frogs, and other forms of life. 



The first immature bird seen was on June 22, when a full grown 

 one was taken. Two days later a young one in the down was 

 secured, and from this date on until September the young and 

 immature birds were seen quite frequently. On the morning of 

 July 20 while paddling up the creek, a 'chip' which I had learned 

 to associate with the breeding birds attracted my attention, and 

 on the bank close by saw an old bird accompanied by four downy 



