HENSHAW on Melospiza meloda and its Allies. 155 



inon at Minneapolis during]migrations, and in the hard-wood timber of the 

 State during the breeding season. I found a nest on an island in Lake 

 Minnetonka, Hennepin County, May 17, 1876; and in July, 1875, the 

 birds, old and young, were numerous in Wright County. 



9. Gallinula galeata. Florida Gallinule. — From being at first 

 considered rare, the Florida Gallinule has been gradually coming more 

 into notice, until now it must be looked upon as breeding here in consid- 

 erable numbers. On the 3d of June, 1878, I collected a nest and eleven 

 eggs, and on the eighth found five more nests in the same locality, four of 

 which contained nine eggs each, and the fifth seven. There were thus 

 fifty-four eggs in the six nests. 



These nests were all in a large, reedy slough, lying in the Minnesota 

 River bottom, a few miles from Minneapolis. They were placed in patches 

 of old wild-rice stubble, and were built up on a floating foundation of reed 

 and rice stems, so as to be high enough to keep the inside of the nest dry. 

 Coarse rushes and reeds were used in building, much of the material being 

 so long that only one end entered into the construction of the nest, the 

 remainder hanging in the water. Aside from the contents, the nest can 

 be distinguished from that of the Coot (Fulica americana) only by the 

 fact that it is smaller, and that finer material is used in its construction. 

 Eleven Coots' nests found on the same days as the Gallinules' nests men- 

 tioned above, were precisely similar in situation and style of structure to 

 the Gallinules'. In one instance, some grass that had grown up around a 

 Gallinule's nest was slightly woven together above it, as if to imitate the 

 bower-like coverings formed above some Rails' nests. 



There are in Southern Minnesota scores of just such sloughs as the one 

 in which these nests were found, and if six pairs (probably many more) 

 bred in this one, it is certainly fair to conclude that the Gallinule breeds 

 commonly in Minnesota. It has been taken in the fall in several other 

 localities and found breeding; in one other. 



MELOSPIZA MELODA AND ITS ALLIES. 



BY H. W. HENSHAW. 



The Song Sparrow, as it occurs throughout the length and 

 breadth of the United States and the adjoining regions, offers one 

 of the most instructive studies of the workings of geographical 

 variation that is to be found. Others of our species may be named 

 that are possessed of a similarly extensive range, but in none is 

 the tendency to split up into races — well illustrated as it is in 

 many others — so well exemplified as in the case of this Sparrow. 



