124 [November, 1841. 



extract from another to him from Capt. Land, presenting the 

 Academy with the complete skeleton and skin of the Orang of 

 Borneo, Simia satyrus? received November 2d. 



Dr. George C. Leib communicated a description of the nest 

 and eggs of the Fulica Americana and Anas discors. 



He saw the Fulica Americana, in the month of June, 1841, 

 breeding in the greatest abundance in the marshes bordering on 

 Lake Erie, Erie county, Michigan. They were associated with the 

 Florida galinules (Galinula galiata,) which were likewise em- 

 ployed in the labour of reproduction, and so close was the intimacy 

 between them, that their nests were interspersed over the marsh 

 in the most neighbourly contiguity, seldom being more than a few 

 feet apart. The nest, rounded in form and rude in structure, is 

 composed entirely of dried or withered rushes, without lining of any 

 sort, slightly interlaced, except at bottom, where there is a simple 

 crossing of the pieces to the depth of several inches. 



It is five inches in depth, by a foot and a half to two feet in 

 diameter. This large mass is placed on the surface of the water 

 among the dense rushes, to which it is attached in several points of 

 its circumference, thus rendering it less liable to be swept ofFby the 

 winds and waves. 



When disturbed these birds emit a note not unlike the cackle of 

 the domestic hen, which is transmitted from one to the other for a 

 considerable distance around, till the air becomes vocal with their 

 music. This was heard by Dr. Leib not only during the day, but 

 also at all hours of the night. 



The number of the eggs varies from ten to fifteen, though the 

 latter were observed to prevail. They are of an oval form, and 

 measure two inches by one inch and a quarter, uniformly sprinkled 

 with small dark brown spots on a greenish yellow ground. Both 

 male and female assist in incubation. 



Owing to their exceeding abundance, they are gathered by the 

 neighbouring farmers for the table, and are considered by them 

 superior in flavour and delicacy to the common hen's egg. 



