154 



THE NIDIOLOGIST. 



CALIFORNIA CLAPPER RAIL, NEST AND EGGS. 



was a little low and the bird wished to be 

 safe from the tide. The nest, which was 

 somewhat better concealed than the artist 

 has indicated, was made of dead twigs from 

 drift-wood and lined with marsh grass, 

 some of it green. A reliable gentleman 

 informed me that he once saw a Rail's nest 

 built in a pile of hay on land near a marsh, 

 Mr. D. A. Cohen has a .set of eggs taken 

 near Newark from the inside of a barrel, 

 which had been left on the marsh by the 

 spring' tide. Nine is the usual number of 

 eggs layed, although I took .sets of six, 

 eight, one of ten and one of eleven. Great 

 variety in size and markin<,^s is noticeable, 

 as with the common Clapper Rail. 



A Rail was flushed from its eggs as I 

 stood almost over the nest. Its perform- 

 ances immediately thereafter, simulating a 

 cripple, was remarkable in a bird which is 

 classed of a low order. It fluttered and 

 limped along in a ridiculous way for about 

 thirty feet, when it came to a small lagoon. 



Losing si^ht of it here, the other side of 

 some bushes, I instantly heard a loud 

 splashing in the water. I ran up to the 

 edge, but the Rail had disappeared, and 

 only a flotilla of bubbles marked its passage 

 across. 



All of the nests which I observed were 

 built near the little sloughs. In some ca.ses 

 the eggs could be readily .seen by one stand- 

 ing near; others were hidden bj^ the grass, 

 but were partly open on one side. One 

 nest was quite well concealed by the bunch 

 of marsh weeds and grass which surrounded 

 and partly arched it over on all sides. This 

 nest was about ten feet from a small lagoon, 

 and the Rail's pathway, or trail, could be 

 plainly seen winding through the grass 

 from the water to the eggs, which were 

 reached through a slight opening in the 

 protecting wall of grass and weeds. This 

 was the only entrance or exit, except 

 through the top, where the weeds and grass 

 did not quite meet. 



