410 ALECTORIDES. 



Dr. Bryant ascertained positively that this species breeds in Florida. His first 

 impression was that it began to breed about the 1st of March, but he afterward 

 ascertained that some breed much earlier than this. On the 11th of March a young 

 bird Avas brought to him Avhich was already two feet in height, and was covered with 

 down of a ferruginous color above and cinereous below. The eyes were large and 

 projecting, and the bird looked like a miniature ostrich. The young remain with 

 their parents till they are fully grown, and are fed for a long time by regurgitation. 

 They do not fly until they are as large as their parents, but run with great speed, and 

 hide like young partridges. A nest found by him on the 11th of March contained 

 two eggs in which incubation had just commenced ; another found on the 15th con- 

 tained two fresh eggs, and a third on the same day had two nearly hatched. It is a 

 very singular feature in the history of this bird that it should be thus found breeding 

 in Cuba, through all the lower parts of the peninsula of Florida, and thence only seen 

 in its migrations between there and the Northwestern States. 



The observations of Mr. Moore have led him to the conclusion that the migrating 

 individiials of this species du nut visit Florida during their southern sojourn, as there 

 is no increase in the numbers which are seen there during the winter, and no move- 

 ments take place among them to favor this idea. The Florida birds are never seen 

 to soar high in the air in flocks at any time of the year, as the migrating individuals 

 may frequently be seen to do in their southern winter homes in Louisiana, Texas, and 

 other States. One, or at most a pair, has been seen moving in this manner, not 

 intent on travel, but as if to take an airing. When flushed it runs three or four steps, 

 and then rises and soars away, but without mounting to the height of the pines. Its 

 notes are uttered on the ground in sight of a})prehended danger. It can alight on 

 trees, but does so very rarely. 



Mr. Moore states, also, that nests of this species are generally placed in the shallow 

 ponds with which Florida abounds, among aquatic plants, of Avhich thev are formed. 

 In one instance a large mass of these plants was liea})ed up, constituting a nest, 

 Avhich, Avhen found, March 2, was six or eight inches above the Avater in its highest 

 parts. It was about a hundred yards from dry ground, and in the midst of mud and 

 water. It was within two hundn^d yards of a travelled road, and in full view. The 

 sitting bird had lowered lier head, and so remained until Mr. Moore was within sixty 

 yards, Avhen she flew oft", and dropped down among some plants not far distant. The 

 mate soon appeared, and continued to fly around, l)nt did not come near. The two 

 eggs in the nest lay with their longitudinal diameter in a line parallel with the spinal 

 cord of the bird as she sat on them, and Avere six inches apart. The eggs measured, 

 one 3.75 l\y 2.83, the other 3.87 by 2.37 inches. Other nests Avere placed on the 

 dryest ground, among the saw-palmettos, and formed of pliable materials, herbs, 

 grasses, and the like, but never with stift' material or sticks. In one instance the 

 nest Avas composed of grasses plucked up by the roots, Avdth much sand attached. 

 The entire nest, lining and all, Avas thus made up. 



The young birds run as soon as they are hatched, and may be seen, Avhen nut larger 

 than a Aveek-old Turkey, moving about Avith their parents, Avith whom they remain till 

 they are nearly a year old. Sometimes they are run doAvn and taken before they are 

 able to fly, the parents remaining at a distance, expressing their anxiety by the utter- 

 ance of loud and peculiar notes, and by moving about, but at such times never attacking 

 the enemy. 



In the stomachs of those Mr. Moore dissected he was never able to discover any 

 animal food ; but in those of tAvo that Avere killed feeding together in three inches of 

 water, he found masses composed of the roots of a small species of Sagittaria. Another 



