Breeding Biology 



Studies of the breeding biology of the King Rail were made mostly 

 on the Grand Prairie in Arkansas and Prairie Counties, Ark., during 

 the period 1951-55. 



In late winter when rails return to the prairie from more southern 

 latitudes or simply become conspicuous in areas where they have been 

 present all winter, the most suitable habitat for the establishment of 

 nesting territories is the narrow strip of marsh found in roadside 

 ditches. At this season there is little suitable cover elsewhere. Old rice 

 stubbles are sometimes used for nesting, but many of these are dried 

 up or whipped down by winter winds and rains or are plowed under 

 in the early spring. 



HOMING 



Some males or females return to the same territory in consecutive 

 years. An incubating bird of undetermined sex banded on a nest at 

 Stuttgart, Ark., May 6, 1952, was recaptured the following year on 

 May 1, on a nest 30 feet from the previous year's nest site. An incubat- 

 ing bird of imdetermined sex was banded on its nest at the Patuxent 

 Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, Md., July 3, 1965, and recaptured 

 in a trap with a mate and brood of eight young on July 8, 1966, 50 

 feet from the 1965 banding site. 



TERRITORIES 



Territories occupied by King Rails in roadside ditches consist of 

 small strips of fresh-water marsh. The dominant plants in most of 

 these small marsh strips (in order of relative abundance and conse- 

 quently of relative importance as nesting cover for King Rails in 1952) 

 were soft-rush, awl-fruited sedge, bottlebrush sedge {Carex comosa)^ 

 lake sedge, common spikerush, beakrush [Rhynchospora sp.) , an unde- 

 termined Graminae, broad-leaved cattail, and smartweed {Polygommi 

 sp.). 



The schedule of arrival of males in the area and the stage of court- 

 ship determine size and c^hoioe of territory. It is conceivable that the 

 earlier arrivals manage to claim larger and more suitable territories 

 than those wliich arrive later when competition is keener. However, 

 territorial boundaries are rather fluid during the earlier part of the 

 courtship period. As additional males move into an area of suitable 



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