162 



MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



legs, changing to bright red close to the body, separate it at once from the 

 Coot, which is also called Mud-hen, but which has a white bill and green 

 legs without any red near the body. 



Distribution. — Temperate and Tropical America, from Canada to Brazil 

 and Chili. 



The Gallinule, under the name of Mud-hen, is commonly confounded 

 with the Coot, which is equally or more abundant in Michigan. The 

 GalHnule occurs in suitable 

 places throughout the en- 

 tire Lower Peninsula, but 

 seems to be most abundant 

 in its southern half. It is 

 plentiful in the Monroe 

 county marshes, along the 

 Detroit River, St. Clair 

 Flats, about Saginaw Bay 

 near the mouth of the river, 

 as well as at Chandler's 

 Marsh, Ingham county, 

 and elsewhere in the in- 

 terior of the state. Its 

 notes, flight, and general 

 appearance are so similar 

 to those of the Coot that 

 considerable care is needed 

 to discriminate between 

 them, and many of the 

 the records of ''Mud-hens" probably really refer to this species. 



It nests wherever found, and in some localities is extraordinarily abundant 

 during the nesting season. The nest is commonly placed among the cat- 

 tails or reeds, in standing water, or on small islands in very wet marshes, 

 and the eggs are laid from the first of June to the middle of July. These 

 vary in number from eight to fifteen, and are buffy-white to clear buff, 

 spotted rather scantily with dark brown. They average 1.74 by 1.19 

 inches. 



This is one of our most graceful water birds, a fact which no one would 

 suspect from examination of the distorted specimens usually seen on 

 museum shelves. 



The food consists largely of insects, most of which are aquatic, but it 

 also includes many other forms, and Prof. Aughey examined a gallinule 

 killed at Beatrice, Nebr. in September 1872, which had eaten seven grass- 

 hoppers, 29 other insects, and some seeds and other vegetable matter. 



Fig. 44. Florida Gallinule. 



From Baird, Brewer and Ridgway's Water Birds of North 



America. (Little,' Brown & Co.) 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult: Head and neck all around dark slaty blue, almost black; breast and belly- 

 similar but paler; upper parts, including wings and tail, similar, but brownish on in- 

 ner secondaries and rump; several conspicuous white streaks on tlie flanks; most of 

 the imder tail-coverts pure white; only the central coverts clear black. Tip of bill yellow, 

 remainder, including the frontal plate, bright red; legs and feet greenish, the half inch 

 next the feathers orange. Sexes alike. Immature: Similar, but imder parts gray or 

 nearly white; frontal plate much smaller, and no red on bill or legs. Length 12 to 14.50 

 inches; wing 6.85 to 7.25; tip of bill to back edge of frontal shield 1.70 to 1.85; tarsus 

 2.10 to 2.30. 



