812 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 67 



FiGXJEE 32. — Regurgitated King Rail pellets from Dorchester County, Md. Note 

 the round gastroliths of the crayfish ( Camharus sp. ) in top and bottom pellets 

 at left. Pellets averaged 2 cm. in length by 1.5 cm. in width. (Photograph 

 by Frederick C. Schmid.) 



examined contained the hard cylindrical convex-shaped gastroliths of 

 crayfish. 



In brackish marshes near Woodland Beach, Del., where King and 

 Clapper Rails occur together, pellets contained exoskeletal fragments 

 of the red- jointed fiddler crab and a clam (Macoma halthica) . As many 

 as 14 pellets were found on a single muskrat house. 



FEEDING YOUNG 



I have observed King Eails feeding their chicks within 2 hours after 

 hatching. Gross and Van Tyne (1929, p. 439) reported the same for 

 the Purple Grallinule, another member of the family Rallidae. 



When the very small young are abroad, they follow one or both 

 parents about as food is caught for them. Larger food items such as 

 crayfish and large grasshoppers are dismembered and fed to the young 

 in pieces. 



Sometimes, hoAvever, the young remain in a concealed place and 

 wait for the parent to bring them food. At Grand Chenier, La., April 8, 

 1956, I observed a pair of adult rails for over an hour as they kept 

 up a steady pace to and from a small pond catching fish and carrying 

 them to young hidden behind tussocks of grass 30 or so feet distant. 



