THE OOLOGIST. 



153 



much that I concluded that the Kiug 

 Kail is inclined to be "sassy," like those 

 belonging to royalty oare frequently 

 found when the oppoi-tunity is given. 

 In fact, I soon learned that the King 

 Rail is considerably disposed to lord it 

 over the gentle-spirited Mud-hens with 

 whom she dwells and frequently saves 

 herself the trouble of making a nest and 

 laying so many eggs, by taking posses- 

 sion of both nest and eggs of her neigh- 

 bors. I have several times found nests 

 containing incubated eggs of the Florida 

 Gallinule and the fresh eggs of the 

 Rail. On May 18, this season, I found 

 a nest containing eight incubated eggs 

 of the Gallinule and five fresh eggs of 

 the Rail, the eggs of the former occupy- 

 ing the middle of the nest and the eggs 

 of the latter lying in the outer circle, 

 affording indisputable evidence to me 

 that the Rail was the usurper of the 

 home already established. 



The nests of the King Rail are usual- 

 ly placed between "mud and water" 

 where the ground is barely covered 

 with water or where the water is shal- 

 low, but when the banks of the pond 

 are more inclined the nests aie placed 

 in tufts at the water's edge. Some- 

 times, however, their nests are found 

 in the tufts in deeper area, though 

 more nests are found in the outer 

 fringe of flags. I learned to mentally 

 divide the zone of flags into three zones 

 of widths, the outer one occupied by 

 the Rails, the middle third inhabited by 

 the Coots, Gallinules and Least Bit- 

 terns, and the inner third colonized 

 chiefly by the Grebes, though each of 

 the species named is found nesting in 

 all parts of the flags to a certain extent. 

 I give the foregoing as a guide to those 

 who will visit the swamps for the first 

 time, to follow until they can profit by 

 their own experience, as I believe that 

 this should be the object of' those who 

 write their experiences in these col- 

 umns. 



I think it is impossible to distinguish 



the nest of the King Rail from the nest 

 of the Florida Gallinule by the con- 

 struction alone, yet the drooping of the 

 tops of the flags in the tufts containing 

 the Rail's nest is almost characteristic 

 of the Rail and is seldom or never seen 

 in the nest of the Gallinule. In many 

 cases the habitation of the Gallinule is 

 not covered, while the nest of the Rail 

 is rarely open above. Many nests of 

 the Gallinule are much larger than any 

 nests of the Rail. The nests of the King 

 Rail are commonly made of small 

 pieces of soft rushes, laid on pieces of 

 coarser rushes which are piled in the 

 base of a tuft of green flags. My first 

 nest was an average structure, being 

 eight inches in diameter externally, 

 and six inches across the shallow bed, 

 the latter being one and three fourths 

 inches deep. The nest stood six inches 

 high in the tuft. It contained ten eggs 

 which were about one-half incubated, 

 May 18. Sets of nine, ten, eleven and 

 twelve fresh eggs were also found, as 

 well as new nests containing two and 

 three fresh eggs. On May 19, a nest 

 was found by the drooping of the flags, 

 and it held four eggs, which were un- 

 disturbed, and on May 22 seven eggs 

 were found in it, an egg having been 

 deposited each day. On May 25 only 

 eight eggs were in the nest. I noted 

 this as a large nest, it being seven 

 inches high, nine in diameter, only one 

 one and three-fourths inches deep, and 

 the tuft was growing in three inches of 

 water. The late nests are found near- 

 er the open water and the nests with 

 incubated complements were placed 

 in the drier area in the outer fringe of 

 flags, thus indicating that the Rails lo- 

 cate the nests where the water is reced- 

 ing, and they perhaps desire that the 

 ground shall be uncovered of water 

 when the young are hatched. ]So late 

 nests were found on tbe dry or uncov- 

 ered ground, and several nests with in- 

 cubated complements were found in 



