372 Simmons, The Louisiana Clapper Rail. [july 



VI. Social Relationship. 



Though not strictly gregarious, the birds to a great extent live 

 in colonies. 



During the breeding season on the Bolivar Peninsula Mr. Pope 

 found that one locality in particular, near Flake, appeared more 

 tenanted than other portions of the extensive marshes; there he 

 found numbers of nests, scattered along the marshy edges of a small 

 slough or bayou. Indeed, it might have been termed a scattered 

 colony of nesting birds. 



During late summer and early fall the families keep together; 

 but at the beginning of cool weather there appears to be a general 

 mixing and scattering of the individuals. 



During winter the birds were seen almost every day in small 

 groups in the marshes and around the edges of the coves near Flake. 

 In the latter places Mr. Pope often observed as many as a dozen 

 scattered along a short stretch of silt, wading about and feeding. 



He says that "early in March the birds became very noisy, 

 especially late in the afternoon and about dusk. At this time the 

 birds appeared to congregate in flocks of from four to eight, prepar- 

 atory to mating; by the first of April the first pairs were observed." 



The twenty-five acre marsh on Harbor Island w^as especially 

 noteworthy for its abundance of Rails. So abundant were they 

 that on three collecting trips at various times Mr. Armstrong 

 secured about one hundred and fifty specimens. 



On his trip to this marsh in June 1909, Dr. Carroll examined 

 six or eight sets during the day. Besides this there were nests 

 with incomplete sets and nests with young. In the one day he 

 could not have covered the marsh thoroughly and probably missed 

 numbers of nests. 



The two-acre marshy spot just south of Houston contained two 

 nests, less than a hundred yards apart. 



VII. Breeding Habits. 



Nesting Period. — On Bolivar Peninsula the birds were mating 

 during March, the first pairs being seen about the first of April. 

 After that the birds were all apparently mated; but, though the 



