142 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. IO--N0. 9 



intruder. I once took a feinale'Plain Titmouse 

 from her eggs witli my band, and ^liberated ber 

 at tUe moutb of tlie hole only to see her dart 

 down to the nest again. She repeated this ma- 

 noeuvre several times before I finally secured the 

 set. They raise but one brood a year. 



While it may not he usual for the Californiau 

 Quail to desert hi accustomed nesting place on 

 the ground and lay its eggs in trees and liedges, 

 several such instances have come under my o))- 

 servation during the past two years. I secured a 

 set of Spurred Towhee's Eggs from a Cypress 

 hedge, about tour feat from the ground, but did 

 not remove the nest. Some time afterwards I 

 found that the nest contained several fresh Quail's 

 eggs. When ten eggs had been laid the incom- 

 plete set was stolen by some unknown human 

 marauder. Besides the ab;)ve I know of three 

 other instances where I found tlieir eggs above 

 ground, eitlier in a tree or hedge. On May 8th, I 

 SUV a boy find a nest of the Spurred Towhee on 

 the ground, in wliich were four eggs of the Tow- 

 hee and two eggs of the Californian Quail. 



Of largo sets taken by myself this year I can 

 record Western- House Wren, nine; Plain Tit- 

 mouse, eiglit; and Lutescent Warbler five. Of 

 small set (?) I took Plain Titmouse, five, and three(?) 

 Spurred Towhee, two; Least Tit, five; Green- 

 backed Goldfinch, three; and Western Lark 

 Finch, three. Tlie small sets were all taken 

 with incubation either commenced or advanced. 



Californian Clapper Rail. 



(RiiUiisohnuhtus.) 

 liV W, <). ENfEHSON, n.VVW.VKDS, lAI.. 



This Kail seems to be the only one of the famdy 

 whoso nesting habits are known on this coast. 

 W. E. Bryant, of Oakland, C.il., was the first ob- 

 server who wrote anything of it. (See the Bulle- 

 tin of tlio Nuttall Ornithological Club, April, 1880.) 



I will give my e.\p;;rience of its breeding habits, 

 as observed during the last three years. 



I have found the bird common at all times of 

 the year in the salt marshes bordering the San 

 Francisco B.iy, which is four miles in a direct line 

 from Ilaywards, Cal. When startled from the 

 sloughs, they take as readily to wing as a duck, 

 and if closely pursued will try to hide by diving 

 again and again, seldom taking to the gra=s or 

 salt weed. When wounded they give thros or 

 four cickling notes every time they dive. In 

 walking along the slough banks at low tide 

 quietly, they can be soon wading through the soft 

 mud, probing hero and there for worms and insects, 

 which mostly compose their food. I have also seen 



them come out of the long salt grass along shore, 

 feeding here and there at the edge of tide drifts. 

 They have a long running stride, body held close 

 to the ground. My first nest was found June 3, 



1883. It was placed on long salt grass bent down 

 in a mass, some of the blades woven in and out of 

 the standing stalks to keep it in place. The nest 

 was bulky, rather flat and solid, within a few 

 inches of mud. This salt grass is found only 

 along the low places where the high tides have a 

 chance to overflow, and along the old creek ways 

 running through the marshes. Nest complement, 

 seven eggs, just 0:1 eve of hitching. Tliis w.is 

 the only set out of five nests examined. My last 

 year's trip to tlie mirsh was late again, as my first 

 had proved to bo. I went down on May 11th, 



1884, found nine nests, but all empty, all had 

 hatched and gone, as shells lay about the nests. 



This season I had better luck, as I got to the 

 breeding grounds April 18, 1885, and found I was 

 none too early. Five nests were examined and 

 two full sets of eight and nine found among the 

 five. Number one (as I .shall call them as found) 

 was al)out .'500 yards from the bay shore, placed 

 in long salt grass four inches from the ground. 

 Number two only 100 yards from the shore. 



Another trip made May 4th to the other side of 

 the creek, where three nests of eight eggs eacli 

 were found, out of seven examined. All were 

 placed from four to six inches from the ground, 

 measuring 10x10 across the top of nest, one and a 

 half inside depth, three to four inches from tho 

 ground. Nest three was placed on salt weeds in 

 open ground, instead of in the long salt grass 

 as usual. 



One nest of seven glossy jet black chicks was 

 found, seemingly just out of the shell, one not 

 quite dry. All but this one would hold their long 

 necks out, moving them from side to side, and 

 calling in a low plaintive tone pe-ce-ep, pe-ee-ep, 

 very much like a weak young chicken. Puttmg 

 tliese little fellows in my basket for further study 

 at home, no more attention was paid to them 

 until I got to my buggy, when I found two of 

 them missing, knowing, no doubt, (he fate await- 

 ing them. On skinning one I noticed a small 

 claw sticking out from seond joint of each wing, 

 not more than a sixteenth part of an inch long, 

 claw part turning down, of a light horn color 

 and comparing only to a little kitten's claw ; it 

 was found on all the chicks. 



I suppose wo have here one of the links going 

 back to the time when birds were part reptiles, 

 ca\\&A Ptevodadylus. Cuvier, in his "Osteology," 

 gives the following description of this bird-like 

 reptile: "You see before you an animal, which 



