342 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



growths of wampee {Pontederia cordata) rarely placing their nests anywhere 

 except in clumps of this water loving plant. The materials used are decayed 

 leaves, and stalks of the same plant, and the nests securely fastened to stems of 

 the growing clumps. Mr. A. T. Wayne in his Birds of South Carolina, mentions 

 the fact that there are always three or four half completed nests in the vicinity 

 of the one which holds the eggs. This seems to be an invariable rule, as all the 

 nests I have examined in late years have had others in various degrees of com- 

 pletion scattered about within a radius of several feet. 



The locations are generally in a more exposed place than those used by the 

 Florida gallinule; I have found nests placed on top of piles of drift weed, almost 

 totally exposed to the sun. Mr. Wayne also mentions that he thinks incuba- 

 tion is aided by the decomposition of vegetable matter in the nest. I consider 

 this highly probable. Crows must do great damage to these exposed nests, as 

 there are many about the rice fields, and little escapes their ey^s. The high 

 spring tides also cause damage by flooding the nest locations. This last May, I 

 found perhaps, 15 nests, in rice fields that showed every indication of having been 

 torn loose from their lioldings by the high tides, which inundate the fields at 

 this season. 



Eggs. — The purple gallinule lays from 5 to 10 eggs; from 6 to 8 

 are the usual numbers and larger sets are uncommon or rare. They 

 are ovate in shape and the shell is smooth with little or no gloss. 

 The ground color varies from "pale cinnamon-pink" or " pale pink- 

 ish buff " to " cartridge buff. " They are lightly and unevenly marked 

 with very small spots and fine dots of bright browns and pale drabs. 

 The measurements of 56 eggs average 39.2 by 28.8; the eggs show- 

 ing the four extremes measure 42.7 by 30.2; 39 by 30.2; and 34.6 by 

 26.2 millimeters. 



Plumages. — In the downy, young, purple gallinule the head is 

 scantily covered with black down, mixed with silvery white hairs on 

 the crown, cheeks, and throat; the base of the bill is yellowish, the 

 outer half black, with a white nail; the body is thickly covered with 

 long black down, glossy on the back and sooty black on the belly. 



In the Juvenal plumage, in July and August, the head, neck, and 

 breast are dull brownish, shading from "bister" on the crown to 

 "cinnamon buff" on the neck and breast and to whitish on the chin 

 and central abdomen; the back is glossy olive bronze; the wings are 

 glossy olive green of v^arying shades and reflections; the rump and 

 tail are "Prout's brown" or "mummy brown." This plumage is 

 worn for only two months, or less, when a postjuvenal molt begins. 

 This molt seems to be very variable in its progi'ess, or much pro- 

 longed, for various stages of it can be seen all through the fall and 

 winter. It involves a complete renewal of all the contour plumage 

 and in some cases the flight feathers also. I have seen birds show- 

 ing a complete molt in February and others which still retained the 

 old, worn wings and tail in April. Generally by February, at the 

 latest, the juvenal plumage has been replaced on the head and breast 

 b}^ new purple feathers, tipped with whitish on the breast; these 



