346 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Egg daUs. — Florida: 32 records, April 10 to June 26; 16 records, 

 May 6 to 30. Louisiana: 11 records, April 15 to June 2; 6 rec- 

 ords, April 29 to May 19. Texas: 16 records, April 27 to July 6; 8 

 records, May 19 to June 8. 



GALUNLLA CHLOROPUS CACHINNANS Bangs 

 FLORIDA GALUNULE 



HABITS 



The Florida gallinule is unfortunately named, for it is by no means 

 confined to Florida, nor is it any more abundant there than else- 

 where; if anything, it is less common there. It enjoys a wide dis- 

 tribution over the American continent, ranging as far west as Cali- 

 fornia and as fa.r north as Minnesota, Ontario, and New England, as 

 a regular breeding bird. Where it can find congenial swampy 

 resorts, it may be found by one who is familiar with its notes or is 

 wilhng to explore such unattractive places; often it continues to 

 frequent and breed in the last remnants of swampy hollows, close to 

 civilized centers, until driven out by the fiUing in of such places. 

 William Brewster (1891) describes such a resort in the Fresh Pond 

 marshes in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as follows: 



Their chosen haunt was a swamp about five acres in extent, covered with 

 (tense beds of cat-tail flags and thickets of low willows, among which were 

 many pools and ditches of open water 3 or 4 feet in depth connected by a net- 

 work of muskrat run ways. The only really dry places were the tops of the 

 numerous large tussocks and scattered houses of the muskrats, for among the 

 willows and cat-tails the water was everywhere from 6 to 12 inches deep. The 

 swamp was bordered on one side by a railroad, on the next by a high knoll, on 

 the third by partially submerged woods of dead or dying maples, while on the 

 fourth side an expanse of marshy ground stretched away for hundreds of yards 

 to the shores of a pond. The area covered most thickly with flags and willows 

 was separated from the maple swamp by a ditch, broad, straight, and practically 

 free from all vegetation save duckweed, which formed an emerald carpet on the 

 surface of the brown, stagnant water. 



Courtship. — I have seen the courtship display in Florida, in which 

 the white undertail coverts perform a conspicuous part; with head 

 held low, wings partly raised and opened and tail greatly elevated 

 and spread, Ukc a great white fan, the male swims about in a swan- 

 Uko attitude, uttering his love notes. An open bit of water in the 

 marsh forms the stage and the female watches the performance from 

 the seclusion of neighboring reeds. 



C. J. Pennock has sent me the following notes on the courtship of 

 this species, as observed by him in a marsh near Wilmington, Dela- 

 ware, on June 6, 1925: 



Our attention was attracted to a pair of Florida gallinulcs swimming in one of 

 the larger open tracts and we tarried for an inspection. It quickly became 

 evident that this pair of gallinules were amorously intent; at least while the one 



