114



On Five Nesting Failures and Follies



that the two missing eggs had previously been converted into two

little balls of black fluff, and the old bird had taken these chicks

back to the nest and was brooding them there. The four eggs were

replaced in the nest, and the following morning two more chicks

were hatched (the other two eggs being clear).


The difficulty of feeding the chicks then commenced. In

the first place, it was often most difficult even to find the parent

birds, and when found the chicks for the first few days would

scatter in all directions more often than not making frantic efforts

to get through the f-in. mesh wire netting enclosing the run, and on

various occasions I rescued chicks that had pushed through and

failed to return. The parent birds would at my approach display

the greatest agitation—the cock very slightly setting up his feathers

and rushing off with loud “ clacks ” of indignation, whilst the hen

with similar “clacks” and with lowered head and wings, and

feathers on the back erected, would repeatedly charge at me,

especially if a chick w T as heard to cry. It would be of great interest

to have had a photograph of the hen Rail while charging She

looked something like a Ruff in the breeding season, and the greatest

possible contrast to the torpedo-shaped bird as I usually see her at

other seasons, shrinking away through the grass at the slightest

noise. The cock bird usually kept quite near the hen, but I never

actually saw him brooding the chicks. For a fortnight I spent a good

deal of time throwing crumbled hard-boiled egg, scalded gentles, finely

chopped meat, poultry food and other dainties in open spaces where

I hoped the Rails and not other birds would find them. It was

most interesting when I could watch unseen to notice the hen bird

coming out to fetch pieces of this food or catching flies with which to

feed the young. I could always tell when the young were near, and

I was unnoticed, by her constant low “ grunts ” calling them—a

striking contrast to the angry “ clacks ” of one or both parents as

soon as danger was suspected. One of the chicks died at the end of

about a w r eek and one when partly feathered. The other two

flourished greatly, but just before getting feathered were the ugliest

birds I ever saw in my life. The down with which they were

hatched did not seem to have increased at all, and as the birds grew

prodigiously they became straggling, black-skinned, semi-nude objects.



