272 The IVafer-fowl Family 



fish, crustaceans, and shellfish. The flesh of cer- 

 tain species is considered a delicacy. The size 

 and shape of the bill differ much in the different 

 subfamilies, but it is never soft at the tip. The 

 hind toe is much longer than in the ducks and 

 shore-birds. All the species are retiring in their 

 habits, keeping in dense vegetation, and though 

 their harsh notes may show that there are many 

 around, seeing a single bird will prove often im- 

 possible. Evenings and moonlight nights are 

 their favorite feeding hours, and then their loud 

 voices can be often heard in the marshes they 

 frequent, and occasionally a bird seen running on 

 the mud at the edge of a creek. Their nests are 

 simple, a hollowed heap of short rushes, and are 

 built on the ground or fastened among the reeds 

 growing in shallow water. The eggs are usually 

 buffy, spotted with brownish, and from six to 

 fifteen in number. The young leave the nest as 

 soon as hatched. 



The coots may be recognized by a bare and 

 horny shield-like space, extending from the bill 

 toward the crown, and by the membranous lobes 

 on their toes; the gallinules, by a somewhat simi- 

 lar frontal plate with no lobes on the toes ; and 

 the true rails, by having neither frontal plate nor 

 lobed toes. Some of the gallinules are of a rich 

 purple color with brightly colored bills. 



On islands in the southern hemisphere sev- 



