DESCRIPTIVE LIST 



109 



either side. It has no trees, but is covered rather uniformly with grass eight or 

 ten inches high. Small clumps of rushes, growing rarely over three feet high, are, 

 however, scattered over the island. The earth at these spots is usually elevated 

 about a foot above the surrounding marsh, and in nearly every one of them a rail's 

 nest was found. These were composed entirely of marsh-grass, blades and stalks, 

 and were built from six to eight inches above the wet sod. The fragments of grass 

 used varied from four to six inches in length, shorter pieces being employed for 



FIG. 71. CLAPPER BAIL. 



the top layers. The nests measured about eight inches across the top, the horizontal 

 thickness being uniform from the bottom. Each of two of the nests examined held 

 eight slightly incubated eggs, and one with ten eggs was seen. One was found with 

 two freshly deposited eggs, and another with four incubated eggs. Eggshells from 

 which the young had but shortly departed were found in one instance. Usually the 

 eggs were not screened from view by any arching of the grass or rushes. Along 

 the banks of the tide-creeks the marsh-grass was often two feet or more in height. 

 Here were the many covered runways of the birds, some of them several yards in 

 length." 



