322 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



The nest is commenced by breaking down or biting off 

 the flags in the spot selected, usually in the midst of a 

 thick tuft of grass, which will serve as a basis for the 

 structure. UjDon the tuft selected, old coarse rushes and 

 flag stems are piled until the nest is nearly of the required 

 height and size, and H is finished with smaller pieces 

 of soft dried flags. Most of the nests have an oblique 

 approach, made of coarse dried stems bent down, extend- 

 ing from the top of the nest to the surface of the water. 

 The nest is always exposed above, but is generally well 

 surrounded by the adjacent upright stems. It is some- 

 times described as floating, but all that I have examined, 

 situated in deep water, were built on flag stems bent over 

 as a basis, and hence they could not sink, though they 

 might rise with a sudden advance of the water. 



A typical nest is from seven to nine inches high above 

 the water, and eight to ten inches across the top. The 

 cavity is from six to eight inches in diameter at the top, 

 and from two to three inches deep. When there is an 

 approach to the nest it varies in length from twelve to 

 eighteen inches. Complete sets consist of eight to eleven 

 eggs, and the average is ten or eleven, for other observers 

 report even larger sets. They generally have an ashy- 

 gray or a dark-clay ground, frequently appearing pale 

 cream white in the nest exposed to the sun, as most of 

 the nests are, and they are somewhat thickly and uni- 

 formly marked with small specks of blackish brown. 

 While they resemble the eggs of the gallinule in shape, 

 they are quite different in general style of color and mark- 

 ings, the eggs of the Florida gallinule having a much 

 lighter ground of dingy cream, and the markings are 

 larger and less regular, some of the spots being bold 

 blotches of light reddish brown, and there are generally 

 deeper markings of light purple and pale lilac. Most of 

 the eggs of the coot measure between 1.90 and 2.00 inches 

 in length, and between 1.28 and 1.40 in width, the average 

 being somewhat smaller than the eggs of the Florida 

 gallinule. 



If we wish to see the coots at their best, we should visit 

 the swamp-lakes about the middle of May, when the 

 water is at ordinary height in the swampy regions. Hav- 



