On a Collection of Egg’s from 
Georgia, H. B, Bailey, 
94. Rallus elegans. Red-breasted Rail. — Nests in fresh-water 
marshes, near ponds ; eggs eight to ten. A set taken July 18 on Butler’s 
Island , Georgia. 
Bull. N. 0,0* 3, Jan, 1883, p, 42 
King Rail in Louisiana. 
BY W. C. AVERY, M. D. 
On the 24th of March I met three small boys 
who were returning from the field with dogs 
and guns. Besides a half dozen hares which 
one of them carried on a string over his 
shoulder, was a King Rail (if. elegans) tied by 
the leg and in the hands of one of the boys. 
It seems that the Rail had been pointed by 
their dog, flushed and shot at. She returned 
immediately, however, to the spot where she 
had been flushed first, and allowed herself to 
be captured by the boys. 1 asked permission 
of the owner to examine the bird, and observing 
a protuberance near the vent, 1 pressed it, and 
received in my hand a mature egg. This egg 
measures 1.54x1.22. The ground color is dull 
white, blotched and spotted with rusty brown, 
also specks of the same color and indistinct 
spots of lilac. The brown spots are largest and 
irregularly scattered over the surface. They 
vary in size from fifteen hundredths to the 
one hundredth of an inch in diameter. I re- 
turned to the marsh with one of the boys, who 
not being able to locate the tussock of bulrush 
where they had captured the Rail, our search 
for the nest was fruitless. 
_ O. 
Nesting of the King Rail 
Philadelphia. 
Near 
I was out on tlio meadows on the Schuylkill 
River below Philadelphia, on June 7, 1892, 
looking for nests of the Swamp Sparrow 
(Melospiza georgianna) which breeds plenti- 
fully in that locality, when I came across a 
nest which amazed me. 
It belonged to the King Rail (Rallus elegans) 
and contained six eggs. They proved to be 
fresh and the bird would have undoubtedly 
laid more, but I was afraid to leave them 
owing to the number of persons frequenting 
the meadows. 
This is the first instance that I am aware 
of where this bird has bred in this locality. 
Isaac S. Rieff. 
rhihu 6'. 1 ’Jji a O.Vol.l7, June, 1892 p.94 
u 1838 p. *60 
A Set of the King Rail. 
On June 1st, a colored man brought me four 
fresh eggs of the King Rail from a nest lie had 
mown down in a meadow, which I reluctantly 
took, more to encourage him than for any 
other reason. On June 2d, lie flushed the old 
Rail from near the site of the old nest and se- 
cured another egg and on June 3d he got the 
sixth, again near the old nest. On June 5th, 
another man found the same Rail and this time 
she had one egg in the poorest apology for a nest 
he had over seen ; this in the low bushes and 
briers on the edge of the meadow. The next 
day she had built up the nest some more and 
had laid another egg and she kept on laying 
one egg each day and building up her nest till 
on June 9th she had five eggs in the nest 
making eleven she had laid in all, the usual 
number here I think. 
There was only one pair of Rails in this 
meadow which was only an acre or two in 
| extent and there is no doubt that the old bird 
simply kept on laying till she had completed 
the set. C. S. Brimley. 
Raleigh, n. c. o.&OVol.l7, July, 1892 p.103 
