NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 339 



The corn crake has been taken in Greenland on several occasions; 

 one was obtained in Newfoundland about 1859 and there are the fol- 

 lowing records for the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada: 

 Nova Scotia (Pictou, October 1874); Maine (Falmouth, October 4 

 1889); Rhode Island (Cranston, 1857); Connecticut (Saybrook, 

 October 20, 1871); New York (Amagansett, about August 15, 1885, 

 Montauk Point, November 1, 1888, Green Island, November 6, 1883, 

 Sag Harbor and Oakdale, November 2, 1880); Pennsylvania (Phila- 

 delphia) ; New Jersey (Bridgeton, Salem, fall of 1854 and Dennisville, 

 November 11, 1905); Maryland (Hursley, November 28, 1900); and 

 Bermuda, (October 25, 1847). 



Egg dates. — Great Britain: 16 records, May 5 to July 26; 8 records, 

 June 5 to 24. 



lONORNIS MARTINICUS (Linnaeus) 

 PURPLE GALLINULE 



HABITS 



The extensive marshes which border the upper waters of the St. 

 Johns River in Florida gave us, among other thrills, om- first glimpse 

 of the purple gallinule in its chosen haunts. Here the marshes were 

 about .3 miles wide, through which the river wound a meandering 

 course. Except in the river channel the water was only 2 or 3 feet 

 deep with a muddy botton of decidedly uncertain depth. There 

 were numerous permanent islands, overgrown with willows, which 

 served as rookeries for herons, extensive tracts of tall saw grass, almost 

 impassable and with very imcertain ground beneath, and innumerable 

 small floating islands of grass, small shrubs and marsh vegetation, 

 treacherous to walk upon with imminent danger of breaking through 

 to unknown depths. The, so called, open water through Avhich we 

 had to pole our skiff, wound in tortuous channels among the islands 

 and through the saw grass; it was completely filled with a rank and 

 luxuriant growth of yellow pond lilies, or spatter docks (Nymphaea 

 adverm), locally known as "bonnets," through which we were con- 

 stantly pushing the skiff with two long poles, the pointed prow mak- 

 ing a passageway between the thick, fleshy stalks and great broad 

 leaves. It was still more difficult to push through the patches of 

 'iettuce," a small floating plant, not unlike a small head of lettuce 

 in appearance, which grows in rather deep water and so thickly as 

 to be often impenetrable. Common, white pond lilies were quite 

 numerous in the open places; and among the "bonnets" they were 

 in full bloom. Water turkeys, wood, and white ibises, and various 

 herons were seen flying over or found nesting in the willows. 

 Least bitterns, sora rails, and boat-tailed grackles were breeding in 

 the saw grass and the loud notes of the grackles and redwings were 

 heard all over the marshes. And in the largoi" open spaces, where the 



