312 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 67 



Highway 17, continuing along the east dike, through the string of 

 island hammocks, and ending at the Savannah River just inside the 

 south entrance on U.S. Highway 17. On this census, made between 

 6 and 7 p.m., 46 males were tallied (table 3) . 



On April 20, 1961, I estimated the breeding King Rail population 

 in a nearly pure softstem bulrush {Scirpiis validm) marsh along 

 U.S. Highway 17A, about 2 miles north of Savannah, Ga. The bulrush 

 averaged about 5 feet in height, and the marsh had a firm bottom 

 covered with 1 to 2 inches of water. A 13-acre section was marked 

 off into transects, and King Rail territories were then spot-mapped 

 on the basis of three calls from any one area. This mating-call count 

 indicated a breeding population of 14 males in the 13-acre tract 

 (tables). 



Upper Savannah River Valley 



King Rails also nest further upriver in the Savannah River Valley 

 section of the Upper Coastal Plain in South Carolina. Norris (1963, 

 p. 2, 19) described the typical nesting habitat as a "Carolina bay" — 

 an oval-shaped water-filled depression with rank growths of maiden- 

 cane and other aquatic plants. 



CHESAPEAKE BAY COUNTRY 

 Tidewater Virginia 



Tidewater Virginia is the section of the Middle Atlantic Coastal 

 Plain that extends from the fall line (the line separating the Piedmont 

 Plateau from the Coastal Plain) to the Chesapeake Bay. It is dissected 

 by numerous rivers, the largest of which are the Potomac, the Rappa- 

 hannock, the York, and the James. 



The King Rail is common throughout the year in much of Tidewater 

 Virginia and usually occurs in greatest numbers in marshes where 

 big cordgrass is dominant. Big cordgrass is one of the best cover plants 

 for King Rails in Tidewater because of its height and occurrence in 

 fairly dense stands, and because it retains its life form throughout 

 most of the year (fig. 15). In the early 1960's, I found King Rails 

 common in the big cordgrass marshes at Norfolk, West Point, and 

 Tappahannock. 



Other marsh types, especially Olney's three-square, wild rice 

 {Zizcmia aquatica)^ and cattail, are important for the King Rail, 

 but there is less acreage of these types, and wild rice does not provide 

 cover in the winter. During the winters of 1958 and 1961, 1 encountered 

 several muskrat trappers who were inadvertently catching King Rails 

 in the extensive Rappahannock River brackish marsh flats across the 

 river from Tappahannock. These flats are dominated by Olney's 

 three-square (fig. 16) . Several King Rails were removed from muskrat 



