48 



The Eggs and Breeding Habits of Some 



Comparatively Little Known North 



American Birds. 



By Louis B. Bishop, M. D. 



Although the eggs described in this paper may be in 

 some instances well known to oologists, they have appar- 

 ently escaped description, probably because the subspecies to 

 which they belong have only recently been recognized as 

 distinct. Of several, however, the first sets taken, as far as 

 I am aware, are here reported. 



Rallus crepitans scottii. Scott's Rail. 



To our knowledge of the habits of this large rail, which 

 dwells in the salt-water marshes of western Florida from 

 Charlotte Harbor at least to the Suwannee River, I can add 

 but little to that given by its discoverer in The Auk for 

 April, 1889 ; but though, no doubt, Mr. Scott found the eggs 

 of this bird he does not describe them, saying only ''The 

 nesting habits do not materially differ from those of the 

 other forms of salt-water rails that I am acquainted with, and 

 the number of young in a brood is about the same as with 

 crepitans. "" 



At the mouth of the Anclote River stretches a wide marsh 

 overgrown with a cylindrical, sharp-pointed rush, stiff and 

 sharp enough to brmg blood after passing through several 

 thicknesses of cloth. As these rushes die and bend over 

 new ones take their place, resulting in a breast-high tangle 

 through which it is difficult to force one's way, and even 

 dangerous on account of one inhabitant of this marsh with 

 which I became acquainted. Channels of varying width 

 intersect the reeds, becoming at low water small stretches of 



