NORTH AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 347 



appeared to the spectators as supremely indifferent to all extraneous affairs and 

 placidly bobbed about within a quite restricted area the other bird was most 

 intent on creating a responsive thrill or in convincing his lady love that he alone 

 was the gayest, handsomest, and most infatuating Lothario in that muddy pondl 

 While his movements were never rapid he was ever alert and continually in 

 motion, paddling to one side of the female and across in front of her, then back 

 and forth, close by, or veering he might get 5 or 6 yards distant, rarely farther 

 away; now he would serenely sail toward her with brilliant, flaring figurehead or 

 frontispiece, the red of shield and scarlet bill making a vivid mark as viewed 

 against the dark background of water and reeds; again with quite as much seem- 

 ing aplomb he would reverse his course when within perhaps but a foot or two 

 of the female, and now it became evident that he considered his greatest charm 

 was centered in the white feather patches of the undertail coverts, border of 

 wings, and upper flanks, for these were flashed in display for her benefit in short 

 or longer intervals, but usually well shown, as he bobbed off from her or tacked, 

 now right, now left, with tail apeak and wings one-third or one-half open. At 

 such times the three tracts showed to the greatest advantage, not quite as a 

 single white area continuously, but when we had a direct stern view there was 

 quite as much, probably more, white to be seen than of the dull plumbeous tint 

 of upper wings and body. When swimming toward his mate, the male swam 

 quite erect, head well up, evidently to make the brilliant face and bill most con- 

 spicuous, while on the reverse course, usually, I am not sure it was always so, the 

 head and neck were inclined well forward and at this time the erected tail was 

 often opened and closed, fanlike, which brought the white in greater evidence. 



Nesting. — Mr. Brewster's (1891) careful description of his Cam- 

 bridge nest is worth quoting in full; he writes: 



It was in the midst of a low, half-submerged thicket of Spirea salicifolia, inter- 

 mingled with a few wild-rose bushes and alders, 4 or 5 feet in height. The foli- 

 age was scanty, and the tops of the bushes withered. Among their stems the 

 water was from 12 to 15 inches deep, quite free from grass, flags, tussocks, or 

 any floating vegetation save a thin coating of duckweed over the surface. The 

 uniform light color of the nest — a pale bleached straw, nearly that of dead 

 grass — thrown into relief against the background of dark water, rendered it so 

 conspicuous an object that it caught my eye at a distance of fully 25 feet. Obvi- 

 ously the birds had disregarded, either deliberately or unconsciously, all considera- 

 tions of protective coloring, and then, with apparently studied boldness, had 

 rejected the safe shelter of tangled wild-rose thickets, dense beds of cat-tail flags, 

 and clusters of bushy topped tussocks with which the marsh abounded, to build 

 their home among scattered bushes in the center of a nearly open pond. With 

 the exception of a little dry tussock grass which formed a lining, the nest was 

 composed wholly of cat-tail flags of last year's growth, all of which must have 

 been brought by the gallinules a distance of at least 25 yards, much of the way 

 through bushes where the water was too deep for the birds to get any firm foot- 

 ing. As some of the stalks were nearly 2 feet in length, an inch thick at the 

 base, and very heavy, the labor involved must have been great. About the rim 

 and outer edges of the nest the flags were broken or doubled in lengths of 3 to 6 

 inches, the ends of which, projecting upward and outward, formed a fringe of 

 blunt but bristling points that prevented the eggs from rolling or being crowded 

 out. On one side this fringe was wanting for a space of 2 or 3 inches where a 

 pathway about 6 inches in length led from the edge of the nest down a gentle 

 incline to the water. This pathway was composed of broad flags from 20 to 23 

 inches long drawn out straight, with the slender tips firmly woven into the nest 



