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NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 67 



Figure 12. — Floodgate and ricefield canal near Savannah, Ga., April 1960. The 

 land is irrigated as the tide rises from the Savannah River. King Rails nest 

 in giant cutgrass {Zizaniopsis miliacea) seen along right-hand edge of canal. 

 The high i)opulation density in this area is probably due to good nesting 

 cover and the abundance of the red-jointed fiddler crab {Uoa minax), a 

 favorite food of the rail. 



In the Low Country, March and April appear to be the best months 

 for censusing, as King Rails are more vociferous at this time than dur- 

 ing any other period of the year. A narrow strip of marshland border- 

 ing a river is the most suitable place for censusing. 



The marshland on the west side of the Pee Dee River and one of its 

 tributaries, the Black River, for a distance of 8 miles north of George- 

 town, S.C., totalling 3,000 acres, was selected as a sampling area. 

 The sampling design was suggested by Dr. Don W. Hayne of the 

 Institute of Statistics, North Carolina State College, Raleigh, N.C. 



Georgetown is approximately 8 miles inland from the coast on 

 Winy ah Bay at the confluence of the Pee Dee and Waccamaw Rivers. 

 The Black River flows into the Pee Dee about 2i/^ miles north of 

 Georgetown. The mean tidal range at Georgetown is 3^^ feet. At 

 Georgetown the river is slightly brackish, and big cordgrass {Spartina 

 cynosuroides) is lan important plant component of the marsh, espe- 

 cially along old ricefield canals. Six 10-acre plots were composed 

 mainly of the following plants : big cordgrass, 35 percent ; Olney 's 

 three-square, 20 percent; cattail, 14 percent; giant cutgrass, 13 per- 

 cent; arrow-arum {Peltandra virginioa), 11 percent; softstem bul- 

 rush, 5 percent; and river bulrush {Scirpus fluviatilis)^ 2 percent. 



Vegetation analyses were made also of three 10-acre plots 8 

 miles north of Georgetown on the Black River. On the Black River, 



