THE OSPREY. 



An Illustrated Monthly Magazine Devoted Exclusively to the Interests of 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Volume 1. 



JUNE, 1897. 



Number 10. 



WATER BIRDS OF THE QUIVER LAKE REGION. 



THE FLORIDA GALLINULE. 



SILLOWAY, ROODHOUSE, ILL. 



UD-HEN " is the name com- 

 monly applied to both the 

 American Coot and the 

 Florida Gallinule in the 

 swamp-lakes of the Illinois 

 by persons who see them 

 swimming and feeding to- 

 gether. They are so inti- 

 mately associated that it is 

 difficult to study either of them separately. The 

 Gallinule, however, has the base of the upper mandi- 

 ble and the frontal plate tinged with red, hence it is 

 known as the " Red- 

 billed Mud-hen," 

 while the Coot has 

 i t s corresponding 

 parts white,* and is 

 therefore known as 

 the "White-billed 

 Mud-hen." If ex- 

 amined more in de- 

 tail, the foot of the 

 Gallinule shows a 

 different structure 

 from that of the 

 Coot, for it does not 

 have the lobed mem- 

 branes along the 

 toes, but has instead 

 merely a continuous 

 membraneous bor- 

 der for the toes, like 

 the foot of the Rail. 

 This slightly differ- -^ l.arge usfkev nest 



ent foot of the Gallinule causes a corresponding vari- 

 ation in its habits from those of the Coot, enabling 

 it to frequent the flags and grasses in the shallower 

 water. Its disposition to spend more of its time among 

 the coverts, like the Rails, discovers itself on our first 

 visits to its haunts. We can hear its loud, cackling 

 cries from any part of the swamp, but more particu- 

 larly from among the reeds than from the open water. 

 It walks and runs over the spreading lily pads and 



* The Coot's frontal shield is dark brown. — Ed. 



upon the floating vegetation better than the Coot, and 

 can climb among the flag stems with the same facility 

 as the Rail, though its plump form is not so well 

 adapted to push its way through the tangled vegetation 

 of the marshes 



The Florida Gallinule is less hardy than the Coot, 

 arriving at its summer home rather later in the spring 

 and leaving for its winter quarters earlier in the fall. 

 However, I believe that Mr. Nelson, upon whose 

 notes most of the accounts in "Natural History Sur- 

 vey of Illinois" are based, places the date of its ar 

 rival rather later than the average will show. He 



says that it "arrives 

 the last of April or 

 the first of May." In 

 advanced seasons it 

 is likely to appear in 

 Central Illinois by 

 the end of March. 

 In ordinary seasons 

 it comes among us 

 early in April, and 

 the bulk of those 

 making their sum- 

 mer home in Illinois 

 have probably be- 

 come settled by the 

 end of the third 

 week of April at lat- 

 est. I have found 

 nests with ten fresh 

 eggs on May 17 in 

 the Quiver Lake re- 

 oN cAKDiNER s ISLAND. gjon, and admitting 



that the eggs were deposited on consecutive days, 

 the occupancy of the nests began in the first week 

 of May. .\s most birds dally several weeks in their 

 resorts after their arrival before nidification begins, 

 and frequently wait some time after the completion 

 of the nests before depositing the eggs, probably the 

 nests of the birds referred to were built in the last 

 week of .Vpril and the birds arrived early in April. 

 The Gallinules are correspondingly later than the 



