Florida Gallinule 97 



Distribution. — The eastern United States from Massachusetts and 

 Kansas southwards to Jamaica and Cuba, but always a rare bird. 



The claim of the Black Rail to be included in the Colorado list rests 

 on the statement of Mr. David Bruce of Brockport, N.Y., that he 

 once shot a specimen in May at a pond near Denver. Like all Rails, 

 it is a skulking bird, and is probably not nearly so rare as is generally 

 supposed. It is known to breed in Kansas. 



Genus GALLINULA. 



Bill short, stout and rather compressed, running dii'ectly back into 

 a frontal shield on the fore-part of the head ; nostrils elongated ovals 

 near the middle of the bill ; tarsus shorter than the middle toe and 

 claw ; toes with a narrow lateral membrane, but not webbed or lobed. 



A widely distributed genus in the Old and New Worlds, with one 

 North American species ; occurring but seldom in Colorado. 



Florida Gallinule. Gallinula galeata. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 219 — Colorado Records — Allen & Brewster 

 83, p. 198 ; Morrison 89, p. 167 ; Cooke 97, pp. 63, 158. 



Description. — Head, neck and under-parts greyish-black ; darkest 

 on the head, whitening on the abdomen ; back brownish-olive ; wings 

 and tail dusky ; outer web of outer primary, a few stripes on the 

 flanks and under tail-coverts, white ; iris red or brown, bill and frontal 

 shield red, the former tipped with yellow ; legs greenish with a red ring 

 round the tibia. Length 14-0 ; wing 6-8 ; tail 3-0; tarsus 2-2 ; cuknen 

 MO, with frontal shield 1-75. 



The young have no red on the bill or legs, the frontal shield is 

 undeveloped, and the under-parts are more extensively white. 



Distribution. — From Ontario, Minnesota and California south through 

 the West Indies and Central America to the Argentine. 



The Florida Gallinule is hardly known in Colorado ; it can only 

 be considered a rare straggler. Allen and Brewster saw one in the 

 flesh in Colorado Springs on May 9th, and E. L. Berthoud informed 

 Cooke he had seen one on Lathrop Lake, near Golden, in 1883. 



Genus FULICA. 



Resembling Gallinula generally as regards bill, frontal shield and 

 wing, but the toes long and provided with a scalloped lateral 

 membranous lobe on either side, corresponding to the individual 

 phalanges. 



A cosmopolitan genus with one North American species. 



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