230 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



curves if not alarmed; perhaps some may have their wings out- 

 stretched in the sun to dry, a favorite basking attitude. If alarmed 

 by the sudden appearance of a boat one may be seen to plunge head- 

 long into the water, straight as a winged arrow, and disappear ; soon, 

 however, a snake-like head and neck may be seen at a distance rapidly 

 swimming away with its body entirely submerged. The anhinga is a 

 water bird surely enough, but I could never see any resemblance to a 

 turkey, and I can not understand how this name happened to be 

 applied to it. The name " darter " or " snake bird," both of which are 

 descriptive, seem much more appropriate. 



Spring. — Throughout the southern portion of its range, in the Gulf 

 States and in tropical America, the water-turkey is a resident through- 

 out the year, but it migrates a short distance northward, up the 

 Mississippi Valley and to the Carolinas, in March, avoiding the salt 

 water and frequenting the inland marshes and ponds. 



Courtship. — Audubon (1840) observes that during its courtship the 

 movements of its head and neck — 



Resemble sudden jerkings of the parts to their full extent, become extremely 

 graceful durnig the love season, when they are reduced to gentle curvatures. 

 I must not forget to say that during all these movements the gular pouch is 

 distended, and the bird emits rough guttural sounds. If they are courting on 

 wing, however, in the manner of cormorants, hawks, and many other birds, they 

 emit a whistling note, somewhat resembling that of some of our rapacious birds, 

 and which may be expressed by the syllables eek, cek, cck, the first loudest, 

 and the rest diminishing in strength. When they are on the water, their call- 

 notes so much resemble the rough grunting cries of the Florida cormorant that 

 I have often mistaken them for the latter. 



Nesting. — My first experience with the nesting habits of the 

 water-turkey was in the extensive marshes bordering the upper 

 St. Johns River in Florida. The river at this point is spread out 

 over a marshy area about 3 miles wide with a narrow open chan- 

 nel and a series of small lakes or ponds in the center. Except in 

 these open places the water is very shallow, from 1 to 3 feet deep, 

 with a treacherous muddy bottom, making wading impossible. The 

 marsh consists of broad areas of saw grass among which are nu- 

 merous tortuous channels overgrown with a rank growth of coarse 

 yellow pond lilies, locally known as "bonnets," through which we 

 had to navigate by laboriously polling a shallow, pointed skiff. The 

 channels are still further choked by small floating islands, made up 

 of bushes and rank aquatic vegetation, which drift about more or 

 less with the changes of the wind. There are also many permanent 

 islands overgrown with willows, which serve as rookeries for thou- 

 sands of Louisiana herons, little blue herons, anhingas, and a few 

 snowy, black-crowned and yellow-crowned night herons. Least 

 bitterns, red-winged blackbirds, and boat-tailed grackles nest in the 

 saw grass; coots, purple and Florida gallinules frequent the "bon- 



