86 



THE OOLOGIST. 



and ponds, prefering sluggish marshy 

 waters. The nest is frequently placed so 

 low down that an inundation often sub- 

 merges the eggs to the sorrow of the 

 disconsolate parents. If the eggs are ouly 

 one-third or a half covered however, the 

 old birds, both of which alternately incu- 

 bate, stick to the slip and its cargo. It is 

 not unusual to flush the parents from the nest 

 half filled with water, the eggs feeling 

 warm to the touch, although the marshy 

 water indicated 64 degrees Fahr. "What 

 nrast be the reasoning power of this curious 

 bird, whose temperature legist eis, if equal 

 to most other birds, 100 degrees Fahrenheit; 

 what the blind incentive that impels it to 

 patiently wait for the appearance of its 

 downy progeny, while the waters rage and 

 the tempests blow ? How do the eggs ever 

 hatch if the surrounding water is not over 

 70 degrees and probably less, and the air at 

 not over 75 degrees Fahr.? That many 

 nest are left each season, their is positive 

 proof from observation; however, many 

 birds are bound to stay if the egg? are only 

 in part above the water, and the farther 

 advanced in incubation the set becomes the 

 stronger the parent is impelled 1 o continue 

 her instinctive duty. Many a time the 

 writer has seen a nest almost completely 

 submerged in which were eggs to the num- 

 ber of five to eight containing embryos of 

 a few days formation to the chick ready to 

 escape from his prison shell, while standing 

 around on the edges of the inundated 

 home of their infancy were three or four 

 demure little black fellows, of from a day 

 to three days out the shell, which blinked 

 in the slanting rays of sunshine, that fell 

 rather obscurely on the nest through the 

 canopy of rushes, flags and cat-tails that 

 shrouded and hid partially, the location of 

 the nesting site. 



This interesting species lays from eight 

 to fourteen eggs ; the latter large number I 

 have never myself found, but take the note 

 from a friend, ever more fortunate than I 

 in finding surprisingly large sets. My 

 largest set is eleven, with another egg lying 

 just outside the nest, in the water, and 

 looking so nearly in markings and form 



like the others that I called it set of twelve, 

 and was content. The nest is composed gen- 

 erally of flat rush stalks of the previous year. 

 I cannot give the proper name of the 

 species of rush although it is familiar. 

 These form, plated and interwoven, quite 

 a neat and truly substantial kind, c f slight- 

 ly hollowed platform, which is generally 

 intimately connected with surrounding 

 reeds &,c. The bottom is of coarse rubbish 

 of any kind and unless well elevated the 

 structure is wet and soggy. Nests differ 

 greatly and are often found composed 

 almost wholy of coarse grass, much like the 

 general architecture of the Virginia rail. 

 The nests can be usually, readily distin- 

 guished, both in size, the present species 

 building the larger nest, while it is less 

 hollowed than that of B. vi-rgim'anvs. 



A nest now before me, dry and firm, and 

 well representing the usual size and form of 

 P. Carolina, is ten and a half inches in di- 

 ameter and and is nearly perfectly circular 

 inform; three inches and a half high, and 

 hollowed to the extent of one inch, which 

 makes ample room for the ten spotted 

 eggs it contains. 



This species represents in its family, one 

 of that class embracing many species in 

 various orders that do not lay their eggs and 

 perform the duties of incubatu n in accord- 

 ance with generally accepted ideas. Proof 

 positive has demonstrated to the writer, wl o 

 has observed at least ten nests carefully, 

 that the eggs of this bird are not laid with 

 a regular periodicy ; nine eggs being once 

 deposited in a space of seven days, and 

 again fourteen days being occupied in the 

 oviposit ion often treasures. In incubation 

 the peculiarity is even more marked ; in set 

 of eight eggs that were under observation 

 from the sixteenth day of the time the first 

 egg was laid, showing a disparity in the 

 emerging of the young commensurate with 

 the predilections of the old biid for incu- 

 bating. In this observation there was 

 convincing proof to me, that the eggs were 

 incubated from the time the first egg was 

 deposited till the first young appeared. 

 "When there emerged the first chick, the 

 egg were all opened and found to contain 



