Daya^ Nesting m Andalucia. 85 



rush, with the growing rushes bent over to form a perfect 

 cover. They are generally hard to find, as it is often impos- 

 sible to see the eggs from above ; but at times they are easily 

 discovered, the very cleverness of the bird leading to detection. 

 A ball of reeds excites suspicion : open it, and the eggs are 

 disclosed. They vary considerably in size and colour; one 

 nest, from which I shot the female, contained examples almost 

 like those of the Siberian Jay, while others were brown 

 throughout. A complete clutch never consisted of fewer than 

 six eggs, and sometimes of seven or eight, one contained 

 nine. They are often piled up one above the other. They 

 are usually smaller and always more glossy than eggs of the 

 Little Crake. One nest, containing eight eggs, was found in 

 the marisma, near a colony of Black Terns. 



Gallinula chloropus. 



Common. We saw many nests with eggs from May 4th to 

 May 26th, on the wet marisma. 



FULICA ATRA. 



Very abundant. The eggs are collected by the basketful 

 and sold for eating. Nests seen from April 19th; young 

 on May 18th. 



FuLICA CRISTATA. 



Local : breeds earlier than the last species ; we found some 

 eggs on the point of hatching on April 27th and all the others 

 were much incubated. Col. Irby says (Ornith. Straits of 

 Gibraltar, ed. 2, p. 145)" the eggs are not to be distinguished 

 from those of the Common Coot [F. atra) ." With due respect 

 for such an authority, my own experience is different and so 

 is that of Mr. F. C. Selous. In all the nests of the Crested 

 Coot which I saw the eggs were much redder in ground- 

 colour and also larger : out of the hundreds taken on the 

 marismas (where F. cristaia does not breed) I never found 

 one approaching such a colour ; in fact, a single Crested 

 Coot''s egg could easily be detected if placed with any number 

 of the others. The nests I saw were also different, beiug 

 more substantial and not covered with the bower-like screen 



