38 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 67) 



In May 1959, while censusing Red-winged Blackbirds on a number 

 of small islands in Chesapeake Bay, I was surprised to find King Rails 

 on almost all of them. The islands provide a brackish environment. 

 On Long Marsh Island, May 26, 1959, I observed a nest constructed 

 mostly of saltmeadow cordgrass and containing nine eggs (fig. 19). 



Figure 19. — Nest and niine eggs of King Rail in brackish marsh, Long Marsh 

 Island, Eastern Bay (of Chesapeake Bay), Queen Annes County, Md., May 26, 

 1959. Nest constructed of saltmeadow cordgrass (Spartina patens) and Olney's 

 three-square (Scirpus olneyi). 



Small patches of saltmeadow cordgrass were scattered throughout the 

 dense growth of hightide-bush {Iva frutescens) on the island. The 

 King Rail nest was only 15 feet from a Black Duck {Anas ruhripes) 

 nest. On another Chesapeake Biay island (Miller's Island) a King 

 nest was found in a pure stand of saltmarsh cordgrass. 



Inner Coastal Plain of Maryland 



Four pairs of King Rails nested in 10 acres of shrub swamp-marsh 

 mixture at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, near Laurel, Md., 



