VIRGINIA BAIL 295 



In a small fresh-water marsh near Coulterville, Mariposa County, 

 Donald McLean (MS) discovered and watched a nest of the Virginia 

 Rail during the season of 1916. It was a tower-like structure about 

 eight inches in height and the same in diameter, and was composed 

 of flat marsh grasses. On June 5 the nest held ten eggs which were 

 just beginning to be incubated. "Whenever anyone approached the 

 vicinity of the nest the incubating bird (female?) would utter low 

 clucking sounds. Sometimes she would slip quietly off and stand 

 nearby in the marsh grass; again she splashed through the water as 

 she departed. Nothing was heard or seen of the male until June 18 

 when he made his presence known by an ear-piercing whistle which 

 the female answered in a lower tone. He was more wary than she 

 and did not come near the nest. On June 19 there were six coal black 

 young in the nest. They had black-ringed pink bills and very large 

 feet. With the hatching of the young, the demeanor of the female 

 changed. Now she became quite fearless and would walk out to 

 within three feet of an observer, fluffing out her feathers after the 

 manner of a domestic hen, and uttering many clucks and whistles. 

 The male answered these calls but would not show himself except 

 momentarily. By the afternoon of the twentieth the last egg had 

 hatched and the next morning the whole family had departed. 



Bowles (1893, p. 115) states that in Massachusetts he has found 

 a Virginia Rail destroying her eggs after they were disturbed in her 

 absence. In one instance when he returned to a nest which he had 

 discovered a few minutes previously he found one of the parents 

 driving her bill through the eggs in quick succession, and later he 

 found another nest which gave evidence of the same sort of treatment. 

 That this is a general trait seems doubtful. 



The Virginia Rail keeps well to cover, and like its allies is more 

 often heard than seen. But if the observer will remain quiet for a 

 short time the bird will sometimes become inquisitive and approach 

 within a few feet. When frightened it seldom takes wing, but prefers 

 to slip away through the close-growing marsh vegetation. Small 

 stretches of open water form no serious barrier, for the bird is able 

 to swim easily. It flies close to the ground, even in migration, and 

 is consequently one of the birds which commonly meets death by 

 flying against wire fences and telegraph lines. 



Rails are, partially at least, nocturnal in habits, and feed at night 

 as well as in the daytime. Their food is made up almost entirely of 

 small animals such as earthworms, snails, caterpillars, and insects, 

 mostly beetles. Some vegetable matter, principally weed seeds, is 

 probably taken when the supply of insects runs low (Forbush, 1912, 

 p. 209). The stomach of a Virginia Rail taken at Los Baiios, Merced 

 County, May 22, 1914, and examined by us, contained nothing but 

 beetles (3 Carabids, 2 Sphenophorus sp., 1 Hydrophyllid ) . 



