22 PROCEEDINGS OP THE 



are still several yards distant. We saw one or two Swamp 

 Sparrows but found no nests, though two of the Song Sparrow 

 were found with four young and five eggs. Several Redwings' 

 nests were found with from one to four eggs, and I collected one 

 set of the latter number. In a dead tree near th§ swamp we 

 found a Red-headed Woodpecker's nest, 25 feet up, with 

 young." 



The total number of nests discovered was four of each species 

 of rail, one of each being incomplete. 



The following year, 1910, I found a number of the Soras* 

 nests, collecting two sets of nine and eleven eggs respectively, 

 but discovered none of the Virginia's. David Harrower, how- 

 ever, found several nests, and one of these, a Virginia's, con- 

 tained an egg which was unmistakably a Sora' s. An interesting 

 incident of this trip was the detection of a Snapping Turtle in 

 the act of robbing a rail' s nest. I succeeded in killing it, and 

 found that it weighed twenty pounds. The rails were observed 

 again in the swamp in 1911, but their number had decreased, 

 so we did not bother them. 



This rather unusual discovery of the two species nesting side 

 by side in the same swamp made it possible for me to compare 

 their nesting habits in the field and to ascertain some distinctive 

 traits of each. The nests of both species are very cunningly 

 concealed and very difiicult to see, even when one stands directly 

 above them. Then both run ofE when one is still some distance 

 away, being very hard to flush. But after noting these two 

 similarities one comes upon distinct differences. The Carolina 

 Rail usually places its nest directly over water in the deeper 

 portions of the swamp, while the Virginia often choose situa- 

 tions where the ground is barely wet. The Carolina builds its 

 nest more compactly, concaves it more deeply, and prefers cat- 

 tails and shred of flags for lining, whereas the Virginia generally 

 uses dry marsh grass. Eggs of the Carolina are much darker, 

 being covered with brownish and olive blotches, and the shell 

 itself is harder; the Virginia's have a lighter cream-colored 

 background, speckled and spotted with light buff and brown. 

 The Carolina seems to begin incubation with the first egg laid, 

 for the reason that in a set of ten eggs some will be fresh while 



