114 Birds of Nortji Carolina 



This brilliantly colored bird docs not appear to come often to North Carolina 

 and diligent search by us in suitable regions of the State has as j-et failed to reveal 

 its nest. H. H. Briniley shot one which had alighted in a tree on the border of a 

 pond near Raleigh on June 6, 1887. Anotlier si)ecinicn in the State Museum was 

 sent from Craven County. We have no other records of its occurrence \\-ithin our 

 borders. It is a marsh-loving bird and should lie looked for among rushes or lih'- 

 pads about the margins of fresh-water jjonds or lakes. Its nesting habits are 

 like thos(> of the rails. 



Genus Gallinula (Briss.) 



95. Gallinula galeata galeata (Lichl.). Florida Gallinule. 



Ad. — Dark bluish slate color; back and scapulars washed with olive-brown; belly whitish; 

 flank.s witli a few ronspicuous white streaks; under t;iil-roverts white; crown with a bare, 

 brifjht-red i)l:ite; liill llie same color, tijipcd with yellowij^li; legs l]rip;lit-rcd at tlie til>i;e. Im. — 

 Similar, but underi)arts grayish white; erown-jtlalc much smaller and the bill brownish; no 

 red on the legs. Dnwny young. — "Ctlossy black, the lowerparts sooty along the median line; 

 throat and cheeks interspersed with silvery white hairs" (Ridgw.). L., 13.50; W., 7.00; Tar., 

 2.1.5; B., from posterior margin of nostril, .SO. (Chap., Binls of E. N. A.) 



Range. — Breetls from New York southward; winters from Georgia southward. 



Rang)- in North Carolina. — Occasional diu'ing the migrations in all parts of the State. Has 

 been detected breeding in Craven County. 



Fio. 7G. Florida OAi.i.i.Nri.E. 



The Florida (iallinule inhabits reedy lakes and the backvvat(>rs of rivers, building 

 its nest, like the rails, among the tall stems of water-plants. We know of only one 

 nest having been foimd in the State. This was discovered on Lake Ellis, Craven 

 Comity, by P. 15. Philipp, .lune Ki, 1909. Thinking he had fotmd a nest of the 

 King Kail, and desiring to get a photograiih of the bird, he set his camera and 

 from a distanc(> liberated the shutter with a string the moment when, from his 

 hiding-place, he discovered a bird entering the nest. Ujjon developing the plate he 

 foimd that the camera had made an interesting addition to North Ctirolina orni- 

 thology, for the bird was a Florida (iallinule. 



In addition to this we possess but seven records of the bird in North Carolina. 

 These are as follows: Craven County, one taken by Clarke and Morgan, 1884; 

 Bertie County, one found helpless in a dooryard after a rain, June 6, 1892; Orange 



