348 BULLETIN 135, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



and the heavy water-soaked butts resting some distance away on the bottom. 

 It was evident that these flags had been carefully selected and adjusted to form 

 a sort of "gangplank" by means of which the bird might enter and leave the 

 nest without disarranging or breaking the brittle material which formed its rim. 

 The whole structure was saved from danger of submersion in case of a sudden 

 rise of water by the buoyancy of its materials, but it derived its chief support 

 from the stems of the bushes, among which it was firmly wedged. It certainly 

 did not rest on the bottom, for I ran my hand under it and found everywhere a 

 clear space of several inches in depth. The measurements of the nest in situ 

 were as follows: Greatest external diameter, 20 inches; least external diameter, 

 13 inches; height of rim above the water, 4 inches; total height about 8 inches. 

 The egg cavity was symmetrical but shallow (2^ inches in depth), and mea.s- 

 ured 7 inches across. 



Another flourishing colony was well established in the Hackensack 

 Meadows, New Jersey, close to civilization, between two large cities, 

 Clinton G. Abbott (1907) and his companions were surprised at the 

 numbers of the gallinules in this marsh, as they saw at least 50 sep- 

 arate birds in the open, and counted as many as 28 in a single pool. 

 He says: 



The water in the swamp was found to be about thigh deep, that is to say the 

 wader sank that distance, but fully half the apparent depth was caused by the 

 soft mud imder the water. Occasionally, one would step into a hole up to his 

 chest, but this was unusual, and for the most part the ground under the mud was 

 solid and trustworthy. The area searched consisted of a broad tract of open, 

 water containing a few islands, and bordered on one side l)y the railroad track 

 and on the other by a luxuriant growth of cat-tails into which many arms 

 and bays extended. In addition there were among the cat-tails a number of 

 isolated ponds unconnected with the main tract. All water, with the exception 

 of the center of the open tract, was covered with a solid scum of duckweed so 

 thick that swimming birds left no path in it, as it closed immediately in their 

 wake. The cat-tails often extended at least 2 feet above the wader's head, so 

 that in a thick bed it would have been easy to lose one's bearings were it not for 

 the tall chimney of a bluing factory close by — evidence in itself of the prox- 

 imity of civilization to the marsh birds' haunt. Mr. Hann and I found no less 

 than seven inhabited nests the first afternoon and at least three times as many 

 empty ones. The inhabited nests contained anywhere from 10 eggs to one 

 young bird. The nests themselves, which are composed entirely of dead rushes 

 with but a shallow cup, are usually placed in an isolated tussock or else at the edge 

 of a cat-tail bed, so that the bird when leaving may have immediate access to 

 open water. A notable exception, however, was a nest found in a dense growth 

 of cat-tails, at least 12 feet from open water. In the majority of cases the bed 

 of the nest was 4 to 6 inches from the surface of the water, but several, perhaps 

 built by birds whose first nests had been flooded, were higher. Almost every nest 

 had a sort of sloping runway to the water's edge by which the bird probably al- 

 ways entered and left the nest. One nest was especially worthy of notice for 

 its unusual height above the water, as we could barely see into it when standing 

 on tiptoe in the mud. It was placed high on a mass of cat-tails tangled by the 

 wind. Occasionally the tips of the rushes were drawn together to form a sort of 

 arch over a nest, as is done by rails, but this was by no means universal. 



