396 Fisher, Birds of Laysati Islatid. [^"J* 



this sedge, and watch where the Rails ran out, when a nest could 

 easily be found. It is placed on the ground at the end of a little 

 tunnel, about five or six inches long, and is a roundish cavity, 

 lined above and on all sides, except the little entrance way, with 

 soft dried stems. The eggs are deposited in a little bowl-shaped 

 hollow about four inches in diameter (PI. XV, Fig. 2). We found 

 several sets of threes and a few incomplete sets of twos. The 

 eggs are large in proportion to the bird, a typical specimen 

 measuring 31 by 2 i millimeters, and in contour they are bluntly 

 ovate or elliptical ovate. The ground color is a pale olive buff, 

 closely and rather evenly spotted with pale clay color, or raw 

 sienna, and faint lilac gray. The clay color is brightest and pre- 

 dominates. All the eggs collected were fresh. The young appar- 

 ently begin to hatch about the middle of June. 



Laysan Teal. Anas laysanensis Rothschild. 



That an islet, scarcely three miles in its longest dimension and 

 fully three thousand miles from continental shores, should harbor 

 a peculiar species of the genus Anas., is, to say the least, surprising. 

 The birds themselves are scarcely less peculiar than their distri- 

 bution. Most of us picture ducks as among the wariest of wild- 

 fowl, but the Laysan Teal, though not exactly tame, are at any 

 rate quite unsophisticated. 



I have little to record concerning their habits. They congregate 

 about a small sedge-bordered, brackish-water pond near the south 

 end of the lagoon. Here we saw them each day, sunning them- 

 selves, and preening their feathers on a little heap of rocks near 

 the center of the pond. We saw them also waddling about in 

 other parts of the island, but not commonly. Near the house 

 there was a pair which probably had a nest in the vicinity, for one 

 of them used to come up to the house after nightfall, and walk 

 about like a barn-yard fowl. Mr. Schlemmer said it was searching 

 for millers. Although these ducks can fly perfectly well, they 

 ordinarily did not take wing until approached within a few rods, 

 and then never went far. They much preferred to walk about, 

 which they did in twos and threes, gleaning their food as they 



