Olson and Rauzon • WAKE ISLAND RAIL 
679 
FIG. 10. Wake Island Rail (Gallirallus wakensis) attacking a hermit crab in its shell (Grooch 1936: opposite page 114). 
threat cackled slightly (Lyons 1939, 13 Jun). 
Two-thirds grown young did a lot of peeping 
(Lyons 1939. 26 Jun). 
Aggression .—Lyons frequently noticed the rails 
fighting. ‘‘They crouch and cackle and purr and 
slice in sideways or jump up like fighting cocks. 
Usually one stands anti the other beats an 
honorable and deliberate retreat" (Lyons 1939, 
IS Jul). “One bird defending a nest advanced in 
defiance, feathers on back and sides up, wings out, 
head low” (Lyons 1939, 18 Sep). 
Interaction with Rats.— Lyons (1939. 29 Jun) 
noted one rail that contested a food object that a 
lull grown rat was dragging—each respected the 
other. The rail's most effective ruse was a shaking 
ot the wings upon which the rat retreated 2 feet 
(0.6 nt). The rail was apparently not overly 
interested and left after a minute. Lyons (1940, 
3 Sep) found no instance of rails touching a dead 
iat nor saw- any evidence of rails eating dead rats 
from the poisoning program of 5 July. Vaughn 
(1945) reported that the rails fed together with rats 
and even resorted to rat burrows to escape the heat 
of the day. 
Feeding .—“In feeding they dig up leaves and 
soil with a quick thrust of the head in search of 
shells or insects” (Wetmore in Olson 1996:105). 
“....they pause frequently to dig with sidewise 
thrusts ot the bill in the loose soil to expose shells, 
insects or other desirahle food" (Wetmore in 
Olson 1996: 111). “The chief enemy of the hermit 
crab is a small ground bird known as the wingless 
IsicJ rail....a meek-looking little chap, a doughty 
tighter. I saw one attack a crab with an approach 
so rapid that the crab did not have time to clew up 
in his shell. The rail led to the crab’s chin like 
lightning several times and it was all over for the 
crab. Whereupon the rail and his friends proceed¬ 
ed to eat the hermit” (Grooch 1936:115-116). 
One of Grooch's photographs (Fig. 10) shows “a 
wingless rail attacking a hermit crab.” 
“The birds were observed to feed on seeds, 
insects, small lizards, and on the soft parts of the 
hermit crab. They were terrestrial, only occasion¬ 
ally climbing into low bushes, and were almost 
flightless. The abundant rat and the myriad of 
hermit crabs were reported as predatory to some 
extent on the eggs and young of the rail. The crabs 
and rats were efficient scavengers, recorded as 
feeding on the bodies of dead birds and uttackino 
sickly ones. In turn, the rails kept watch as the 
crabs changed abode from outgrown shells that 
served as their protective shelter. As the soft 
bodies of the hermits were exposed, these were 
