THE CONDOR
A MAGAZINE OF
WESTERN ORNITHOLOGY
Volume XVII
January-February, 1915
Number 1
WITH RALLUS IN THE TEXAS MARSH
By GEORGE FINLAY SIMMONS
WITH FOUR PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
NOTHING had been mine all spring but ill-luck! The season had been an unusually rainy one, even for the Gulf coastal region of southeastern Texas (which is by way of saying that there had been some rain). The prairies and prairie marshes were flooded, much to my sorrow, for I know full weel that no Louisiana Clapper Rail would be so indiscreet as to nest under such conditions.
But I was especially anxious to locate a nest of the bird, in order to make a further study of its nesting habits and home life (Cf. Auk, July, 1914, pp. 363-384), for but recently had I added the bird to my local list, and what I did not know about it would fill many volumes. It is said that the things people don't know will never hurt them, but that subject had rested heavily on my mind for some time.
For hours and hours, on numerous trips, I had tramped the flooded marshes, thinking evil thoughts of both the weather and the rails, and inwardly cursing my luck. I had searched every suitable clump of rushes and tussock of grass for miles around, but had found only one nest, April 21, 1914. To cap the climac of my seeming ill-luck, that nest was destroyed by still heavier rains before a single egg was laid!
Time and again, during May, I visited the localities frequented by Rallus, but found nothing until the 30th. The whole day was spent among the group of small ponds and marshes on the extensive coastal prairie south of Houston, and in the same marsh where the nest of April 21 was located I found a nest which the young had already deserted. It was among the tall weeds and rushes growing in water a foot deep, and contained one lone egg (1.62x1.18)
