1 
Rallus virg ini anus. 
1891 . 
Mass . 
Nests . 
May 21. Cambridg e . - - With the help of a companion I found four 
cat-tail swamp near Pont Pond in less than two 
nests in the 
hours and noted the following details: 
Nest Nd> I. Ten eggs on the point of hatching, one being 
"chipped". Bird sat close, allowing me to almost touch her, 
then darted off, running over the floating vegitation with 
wonderful speed and concealing herself in a thicket of dense 
flags. Neither she nor her mate made any sound whatever. 
Nest among rather short, sparse green flags, but built in a 
clump of a peculiar kind of grass with broad, flat, light grean 
blades. The tips of these blades were drawn down from every 
side and intertwined loosely over the nest forming an arched 
canopy which caught my eye at a distance of several yards and 
betrayed the nest instead of protecting it. The eggs could 
be seen through this canopy but not very distinctly except 
from directly above. There was no run -way . The water about 
the nest was about four inches deep. The eggs were a haridsome 
set , strongly blotched with reddish brown, one or two ap- 
proaching but not equaling, those found by .Francis on the_ 
I8th. Eggs in single tier, filling nest to rim. 
Nest No 2. — Ten fresh eggs arranged in single tier filling 
the nest to the rim. No bird seen or heard but eggs warm. 
Nest in the top of a tussock, the grass rather short and thin 
the ends drawn over and intertwined. Eggs visible several 
feet away from the height of a man's head, but well concealed 
from the sides. No run-way . The tussock was near the mid- 
dle of a ditch in a very open situation, its top being on a 
level with the ends of the green flags that were scattered 
of dense beds of sreen 
Nest No 3 
clump~”of~4 
,o bird seen or heard. Nest in 
e very edge of a deep, wide 
amon S the stout stems of the flags about m7in- 
jihes^above the water, t n o position bzii^-vovy lik L that o -i ^ fhe 
-i^oast BitUuirt nest wlrT'cll I foUnd-d-a^-^ar. The cluster of^ 
-flags- was seperated from a dense bed of very tall, rank- grow- " 
ing flags by a space of open water two or three feet wide 
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