392 ALECTORIDES. 



above the shallow -water, and slightly hollowed. The leaves of the cat-tail flag seem 

 to be the favorite material used iu its construction. From six to eight is the usual 

 nund)er of eggs, and these are light yelloAvish brown, sjDotted and splashed with dark 

 brown, and varying in length from 1.G7 to 1.80 inches, and in breadth from 1.17 to 

 1.25 inches. "When driven from her nest, the female bird skulks a short distance 

 through the herbage, and then with lu'ud erect and expanded tail she walks slowly 

 away. 



Mr. Moore found this species nesting in Florida on the 20th of April. One nest, 

 containing ten eggs, was in a tussock of grass a few inches above the water, quite 

 exposed from above and on all sides, and was made of blades of grass and lined with 

 the same. The eggs were taken, and on the second day the nest was found to con- 

 tain another egg, just laid ; and a day or two later a second one was discovered on a 

 tussock near by. It is possible that two birds together laid these twelve eggs. 



Another lu^st — only just ])egun when found — was visited daily till the young were 

 seen to leave it ; this was on the 20th of May. Before this nest was finished an egg 

 was laid in it, and material Avas added after as many as three eggs had been laid, the 

 total being six. The first was laid on the 22d of April, and the sixth on the 30th. 

 This nest was quite unlike the other. It Avas placed in a close collection of Po/ite- 

 derias, and was formed almost entirely of their leaves. Some were bent down to form 

 the l)ed of the nest ; others were bent in a like manner for a rude canopy over it ; 

 others were divided, and used to raise the sides of the nest and to finish it. Most of 

 the materials were used in a green state. The leaves of this plant are spongy, and on 

 losing their vitality shrink to a mere trifle of their living bulk ; and this may have 

 occasioned the additions made to the nest. 



The ground-color of the eggs varies from a dark cream to a light buff, the depth of 

 the coloring being affected by the influence of the materials of the nest. When first 

 laid, and unstained, the ground-color is a creamy white. The markings are usually 

 scattered, small, and rounded, of bright reddish brown, and lighter and fainter stains 

 of purplish slate. Two specimens of the egg of this bird (No. 1278) collected in 

 INIinnesota by ]\Ir. B. F. Goss, are of oval shape, one end but very slightly larger 

 than the other ; one measures 1.80 inches in length by 1.25 inches iu breadth, the 

 other 1.70 by 1.30 inches. 



Genus FULICA, Linn^us. 

 Fulica, Linn. S. N. cd. 10, 1758, 152 ; ed. 12, I. 1766, 257 (type, F. atra, Linn.). 



Char. Very similar to GaUinula, but the toes margined by a broarl, deeply scalloped lateral 

 menihrane. Bill shorter than tlie head, straight, strong, compressed, and advancing into the feathers 

 of the forehead, where it fretiuently forms a wide and somewhat projecting frontal ])late ; nostrils 

 in a groove, witli a Luge niemlirane, near the middle of the bill. Wings rather short, second and 

 third quills nsnally longest ; tail very short ; tarsus robust, shorter than the middle toe, with very 

 distinct transverse scales ; toes long, each having semicircular lobes, larger on the inner side ; hind 

 toe rather long, lobed. 



Almost the only difference between Fulica and GaUinula consists in the single character of the 

 toes, as pomted out above. The two genera are, however, quite distinct, since there appears to be 

 no species known that is intermediate in the character of the feet. 



Leaving out the remarkable F. cornuta, Bonap., which has been made the t\qie of a distinct 

 genus — and we think properly so — there are knoAvn six American species of Fulica, whose char- 



1 Li/cornis, Bonat. Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 4, Zool. I. 46 (1854). 



