. The Canadian field-naturalist. . Figure 4. Chicks and embryos taken from a wild Sora nest the day the first chicks hatched. Full-time incubation began after the second egg and the clutch probably would have hatched over an 8-day span. or two "dummy nests" were found near successful nests of both species in the wild and probably were utilized for brooding. Diurnal brooding was shared by both sexes in a manner similar to incubation (Table 3). The chicks were constantly brooded by one of the parents for the first 4 to 7 days. Diurnal brooding decreased over the following two weeks, bu
. The Canadian field-naturalist. . Figure 4. Chicks and embryos taken from a wild Sora nest the day the first chicks hatched. Full-time incubation began after the second egg and the clutch probably would have hatched over an 8-day span. or two "dummy nests" were found near successful nests of both species in the wild and probably were utilized for brooding. Diurnal brooding was shared by both sexes in a manner similar to incubation (Table 3). The chicks were constantly brooded by one of the parents for the first 4 to 7 days. Diurnal brooding decreased over the following two weeks, but nocturnal brooding continued longer. Two or three days after hatching, rail chicks began to follow the adults from the nest. At first, the chicks moved less than a meter and then returned. After a few days they left the nest, feeding on their own, occasionally following an adult and begging. In these situations, the adult fed the chicks and brooded them on the brood nest, breaking off from time to time to carry food to the mate on the nest. Both sexes used both nests, but the males appeared to utilize the brood nest more than the females. When all of the chicks left the nest, they did not follow cither adult closely, but scattered within the territory, occasionally going to either adult for feeding or brooding. The adults did not call to their young, but rather the young seemed to recognize the territory and searched for an adult within this area when they appeared hungry or cold. Two wild families of Virginia Rails remained in their territories for 17 and 20 days after hatching; a third family was captured in its territory 12 days after hatching, and a fourth family abandoned its territory as soon as the last egg hatched. However, I had disturbed this last nest much more than the others during the incubation period. There was evidence of early movement of families in the absence of human disturbance. Two Virginia Rail families with young less than a week old crossed roads, a
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Keywords: ., bookauthorottawafi, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1919
