50 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 67 



ing territories. One King Rail made four passes in running flight at a 

 Sora in order to evict it from his territory. Virginia Rails received the 

 same treatment from King Rails. 



A call, presumably agonistic, heard when two male King Rails were 

 in the same territory, could be described as hih-hik-Tmr-r-r-r- . 



COURTSHIP BEHAVIOR 

 Mating call and pair formation 



With the first warm days of late February, the mating calls of King 

 Rails are heard for the first time in the roadside ditches adjacent to 

 rice stubbles or other fields. Rails feed in the shallow water of the ditch 

 and use the broomsedge {Andropogon spp.) on ditchbanks or outside 

 levees of old ricefields as places of retreat or hiding. Moreover, the 

 rails use little lanes or pathways, such as those made by cottontails 

 {Sylvilagus sp.), for traveling in concealment along the ditchbanks. 

 In late February the only vegetation that offers much concealment to 

 calling King Rails is the perennial ditchbank sedge which is also the 

 winter abode of the Short -billed Marsh Wren on the Grand Prairie; 

 consequently, much of the early season calling emanates from behind 

 or among clumps of this grass. However, where there happens to be 

 an old growth of cattails in the ditch, rails may call from this cover. 



The male King Rail calls its mate from a concealed, partly con- 

 cealed, or completely exposed position. The purpose of this call is first 

 to attract a mate and later, after pair formation, to rally her. 



The mating call is one of the least difficult calls to describe. It is 

 most commonly given as a harsh Mh-hih-Mh-hih-hik-^ but occasionally 

 varies from a series of kihs to a series of kuks or hups. This variation 

 may be a matter of interpretation, possibly depending upon the observ- 

 er's distance from a calling bird. The pitch of the call is steady, but the 

 tempo increases from time to time. One bird was heard and seen to 

 give this call continuously for 18 minutes. In the Arkansas ricefields 

 this call was heard at almost any time during daylight, but less fre- 

 quently at night. At Elliott Island, Md., in the Chesapeake Bay coun- 

 try, I often heard the mating call after 10 p.m. D. J. Nicholson (per- 

 sonal communication) heard dozens of these rails calling all through 

 the night on the Kissimmee Prairie, Fla., in January and February 

 1962. 



I have never heard a female give the mating call. 

 Other calls 



The most characteristic call of the King Rail, the primary adver- 

 tising call, is the one that is heard throughout the breeding season. It 

 may be written as jupe-jupe-jupe-jupe-jiope- or cheup-cheup-cheup- 

 cheup-cheup- or sometimes as gelp-gelp-gelp-gelp-gelp-. The first 

 several notes in a series are louder than succeeding ones, and the tempo 



