THE OOLOGIST. 



21 



liuely speckled with eliestuut and 

 lilac. 



The luimber coustituting a clutch, 

 varies from four to seven, rarely the 

 latter. The fii'st clutch commonly con- 

 sists of five or six; the second of four 

 and sometimes live. I have found in 

 July, clutches of one, two and three 

 incubated eggs, possibly indicating a 

 third laying. 



Very little remonstrance is made by 

 the birds when the nest is molested 

 and some do not even venture near. 

 In some i^laees, the birds are found 

 breeding in small colonies, and many 

 nests can be found within a surpris- 

 ingly small area. A friend found a 

 double nest in one of these colonies; 

 the lower -containing seven eggs and 

 the upper five. No Cowbird's eggs 

 were in either nest although I have 

 found them in a few nests. 



After the breeding season, the birds 

 remain very quiet, and in September, 

 take their departure for the .sunny 

 South. 



W. E. LoucKS, 



Peoria, 111. 



Bird Nesting in an Illinois Swamp- 



The Florida Galinule is very common 

 in some parts of this swamp, and I was 

 able to collect a number of line sets. 



The hunters of the swamp call this 

 bii'd a "Red Nose" to distinguish it 

 from the Coot and the bright vermilion 

 red of the bill- and frontal shield will 

 I'eadily beuoticed in contrast to the lar- 

 ger whiteljill oV, the Coot with brown 

 frontal sideld and brown spots near tip 

 of bill. 



The nest is formed by bending down 

 the rushes to form a platform and plac- 

 ing a quantity of dry rushes ||on the 

 platform tlius made until it reaches a 

 height of 2 or 3 inches above the level 

 of the water and will rise and fall with 

 it to a certain extent. 



The nest is always placed so the Ijirds 

 can swim to and from it. The eggs 

 are from 6 to 10 in number and of a j'el- 

 lowish (or sometimes grenish brown) 

 ground color, blotched and spotted 

 with brown of various shades. The 

 markings appear to l)e in the shell in- 

 self, not on it. 



Six eggs from difYerent sets measure 

 1.90x1.18— 1.76x1.18— 1.92x1.24— 1.65x 

 1.13—1.73x1.23—1.61x1.23. 



The "Cluck cluck" of the King Rail 

 or Stage Driver, from its call, could be 

 heard at any time but very few nests 

 were to be found. The ability of these 

 birds to keep out of sight was amazing 

 and it took five men and two dogs to 

 liush my first one. 



Their nests are made in a clump of 

 grass and are composed of fine grass 

 and a few rushes, From their location 

 I concluded that the heavy I'ains had 

 tlooded most of the nests, which ac- 

 counted for my not finding more. 



The eggs are from 6 to 12 in number 

 and are from a dull white to a creamy 

 yellow in color spotted with reddish 

 brown, many of the marks being so 

 deep in the shell as to give the appear- 

 ance of having been washed partly out. 



Five eggs measure 1.66x1.21 — 157x 

 1.18—1.71x1.22—1 67x1.24—1 68x1.24. 



The American Coot breeds (iiiile 

 plentifully in some parts of this marsh, 

 laying from 6 to 10 eggs. 



Its nest cannot be distinguished frou) 

 that of the I'lorida Galinule so no de- 

 scription is necessary. 



The eggs, however, are readily distin- 

 guished as they are-; of a clayey yellow 

 ground color, finely dotted over the 

 whole surface with black specks. 



They seem to lay earlier than the 

 Galinule for incul)ation was well ad- 

 vanced in all the sets I took. 



Five eggs measure 1.91x1.31 — 1.92x 

 1 .34— 1.90x1.36— 1 .92x1 .3r)—l .94x1 .37. 



The marsh where I collected is one 

 of a number laying in Ilenr}', and ad- 

 joining counties, and is ilboUt 5 miles 



