and ecology The Laysan rail was an opportunist that fed mainly on invertebrates such as moths, Neoscatella sexnotata (brine flies), blowflies, and their larvae; plant leaves, seeds, and eggs and carcasses of seabirds were eaten when they were available. It was an aggressive bird that would fight off other species, particularly the Laysan finch: the latter is very adept at breaking open seabird's eggs to consume the contents, while the rail was much less so. Consequently, rails would linger around in the seabird colony, be on the lookout for finches which had just cracked open an egg, chase these away, and consume the egg's contents. On Midway, the rails were seen to steal food from domestic chicken. There exists no permanent source of freshwater on Laysan, and while the rails must have been able to cover their needs from the body fluids of prey and the content of eggs, they would eagerly drink from and bathe in pools of water remaining after heavy rain, or a pan of water provided by an observer. Although it was flightless, it would use its wings to assist in keeping balance when running quickly and jumping; this way, they were able to make jumps of somewhat less than . They were nimble and restless, retreating to the tussocks to avoid predators, but chiefly to escape the mid-day heat; if they felt threatened, they often hid in the burrows of petrels. The birds were most active in the open in the morning and afternoon hours, but it could regularly be seen all day and heard calling at night. Laysan rails had no natural enemies apart from occasional predation by frigatebirds; all reports remarked upon its fearlessness, and if an observer stood still, rails would approach and even climb over him to search for scraps of food. One bird, removed from its nest in an attempt to photograph the eggs, would immediately return to protect her clutch. The species was somewhat territorial, more so during the breeding season. On Laysan, carrying capacity was reached at of habitat per bird, while on Midway, population density was one-fourth of this figure; in captivity, an enclosure of roughly was sufficient for two pairs, but introducing more birds into this space would lead to fights. Vocalization When active, Laysan rails would ever so often stand still and utter one to three soft warbling chirps. In courtship or territorial defense (reports