376 Simmons, The Louisiana Clapper Rail. [july 



openings they had made; in the morning none of the eggs had been 

 pipped and I had had no idea how near the eggs were to hatching. 

 Luckily I carried a pocket set of instruments which included an 

 egg measure, and hence I was able to take the measurements of this 

 set before proceeding with further investigation. 



" Taking one of the eggs in my hand I enlarged the opening with 

 the point of my pencil, with which help the young bird emerged. 

 This newly hatched chick had black feet and a black body, with the 

 exception of the stomach and rectum which were a rich orange- 

 pink or salmon color; as is the case with all newly hatched water 

 birds it was almost all feet. All the while it kept up a constant, 

 but very faint twitter, punctuated now and then with a tiny cheap, 

 reminding me, as stated before, of a domestic chick. Its feet and 

 toe nails were black, as was its bill with the exception of a small 

 spot over each nostril and at the tip ; the spots over the nostrils 

 were a dirty china white, while the tip of the bill was a dirty white 

 with a faint pinkish tinge. The pip on the tip of the upper man- 

 dible was a brilliant china white. The down was still wet and 

 clung to the bird's body in places ; it was long and black, and very 

 coarse and straight, resembling black horse hair. Ten of the eggs 

 were pipped so I opened each in its turn, the healthy young in 

 each case being taken out and placed with the others on the nest. 



"In each case the bird's head was tucked under the right wing 

 with the tips of the mandibles or pip coming up by the side of the 

 flank directly under the section of the egg usually covered with a 

 wreath of spots, nearer the larger end of the egg, but from the scant 

 markings on the eggs and their being somewhat scattered over the 

 whole of the surface it was difficult to locate even an apparent 

 wreath. Every young came out of the egg with its eyes open 

 although it had entered the world prematurely. 



When I held up the eleventh egg, uncracked, to the sun it was 

 as clear as could be, so I packed it away to be blown when I reached 

 home. It was infertile, but in perfect condition. 



"While I was examining the nest and eggs the parent bird now 

 and then uttered a note which sounded like the keck of the Red- 

 winged Blackbird, and several times I looked up to find her within 

 four or five feet of me as I squatted by the nest, her long bill and 

 bright eyes pointing my way through the blades of grass. 



