are not clear, but probably the latter) two birds would stand opposing each other, fluffing up their plumage, and give rattling, scolding calls not unlike a mechanical alarm clock. Soon after dusk, the entire population could be heard to engage in a brief bout of vocalization, which Frohawk (1892) described as sounding like "[...]a handful or two of marbles being thrown on a glass roof and then descending in a succession of bounds." Downy young would vocalize a lot, and their calls were rather loud in proportion to their tiny size. Reproduction On Laysan, courtship and the start of nest-building was in April, with eggs being laid from May to June and the height of the nesting season taking place in June and July; there is a report of recently hatched young birds from Midway in March, but this seems to be unusually early. On Laysan, nests were built in tussocks of endemic Cyperus pennatiformis subsp. bryanii, kāwelu (Eragrostis variabilis) and introduced Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) around the lagoon, while on Midway, it nested in any shelter that seemed convenient, such as naupaka kahakai (Scaevola taccada ) thickets and pōhuehue (Ipomoea pes-caprae subsp. brasiliensis) stands. The nests were placed on the ground or inside the base of a tussock; in the latter case the birds would rearrange the dried dead leaves to form a roofed cavity reached through a small tunnel some long. Nests were lined with soft dried plant material and down of seabirds. The clutch consisted of 3 or less frequently two eggs (as opposed to some 5–10 for related continental rails). These were oval without being conspicuously more rounded on one end, measuring 31 x 21 mm and being pale olive buff in base color, irregularly marked all over in pale raw sienna or purplish grey. The sexes mated either for life or for an entire breeding season and shared incubation duties, although females seem to have spent more time incubating than males. The young hatched after approximately 20 days of incubation (perhaps somewhat less; in related species it is usually 16–20 days) and were tended for by both parents for about one month. Five days after hatching, the young were able to run as quickly as adults. Hadden (1941) described a three-day-old chick as follows: "A black velvet marble rolling along the ground. Its little feet and legs are so small and move so fast that