SOBA BAIL 299 



and another set of six eggs was found at Nigger Slough, also in Los 

 Angeles County, May 13, 1911 (Willett, 1912a, p. 33). 



Merrill (1888, p. 144) writing from Port Klamath, Oregon, in 

 1887, says: "A nest found May 27 was among water grass near the 

 edge of a shallow pool, and was supported by the stalks of the grass ; 

 the eggs were raised about six inches above the water, but the founda- 

 tion of the nest was wet ; it was composed entirely of the dead stalks 

 and blades of the grass, and was rudely arched over with growing 

 blades of the same. It contained twelve eggs from which the young 

 would have soon appeared . . . ." Another nest similarly located 

 and containing nine nearly fresh eggs was found in the same locality, 

 June 15. 



W. P. Taylor (1912, p. 358) describes the nest of a Sora Kail 

 found on Quinn River, Humboldt County, Nevada, May 22, 1909, 

 as being built in an open bunch of marsh grass, with the bottom of 

 the nest so near the water that it was damp. Marsh grass was its 

 principal structural constituent, some of the stems being still green. 

 The fragments incorporated into the lining were smaller than those 

 in the main body of the nest. The whole structure was securely inter- 

 woven among the grass-stalks which partly supported it. It was over- 

 shadowed and effectively concealed by a frail canopy of broken-down 

 stems. Ten eggs constituted the set. 



As indicated by the instances cited above, full sets of eggs number 

 from four to fourteen ; but ten or twelve would seem to be the average 

 number per set. The eggs are of ordinary ovate shape, and measure, 

 in inches, 1.14 to 1.29 by 0.86 to 0.92, averaging 1.20 by 0.88 (twenty- 

 four eggs in Mus. Vert. Zool., from California and Nevada). The 

 ground-color is notably dark, being deep cream or drab decidedly 

 darker than that on the eggs of the Virginia Rail, and the sparsely 

 distributed markings are of reddish brown and dull purplish gray. 



The young, like those of other rails, are of a general black color, 

 and are capable of taking care of themselves soon after leaving the 

 shell. 



The Sora contributes importantly to the medley of sounds which 

 issues from the average marsh. The following two quoted paragraphs 

 pertaining to Massachusetts afford the best description available to 

 us, of the notes of this rail : 



In the more open, grassy stretches of meadow, as well as among the beds 

 of cat-tail flags, but seldom, if ever, in thickets of bushes, we also hear, after 

 the middle of April, mingling with the notes of Virginia Eails and the din 

 of countless frogs, the love song of the Carolina Bail, a sweet, plaintive er'-e 

 given with a rising inflection and suggesting one of the "scatter calls" of the 

 Quail. Such, at least, is its general effect at distances of from fifty to two 

 or three hundred yards, but very near at hand it develops a somewhat harsh 



