BIRDS FOUND IN BAYOUS AND MARSHES 105 
cup-shaped depression lined with fine grasses, usually in 
a wet meadow ; it may be mistaken for that of a meadow 
lark, but is nearly an inch less in diameter and never 
arched over. The Black Rail nests in the marshes at 
Alviso, California, and, I have no doubt, elsewhere 
throughout the State. The young are tiny black balls of 
down, apparently less than one inch in diameter; they 
leave the nest the moment the down is dry, and run 
about with the agility of sandpipers. Although so tiny, 
they have the instinct of self-preservation to a marked 
degree ; whenever danger threatens they stiffen into un- 
winking pufEballs, with oe their beady black eyes to 
betray life. 
219. FLORIDA GALLINULE,. OR RED-BILLED 
MUD-HEN. — Gallinula galeata. 
Famity : The Rails, Gallinules, and Coots. 
Length: 13.25. 
Adults: Dark slate-color, sometimes tinged with brown on back ‘and 
whitish on belly ; edge of wing and a patch on flank white ; bill and 
frontal shield red, tipped with greenish ; legs and feet greenish. 
Downy Young: Uniform black, a few white hairs among the down on 
throat and cheeks. 
Geographical Distribution: Tropical and temperate North America, 
north to British provinces. 
Breeding Range: For the Pacific slope, from Oregon southward. 
Breeding Season: April, May, and June. 
Nest: A mat of rushes bent over and more or less woven together, over 
water. 
Liggs: 8 to 10; cream-buff, finely marked with reddish brown and 
chocolate. Size 1.87 X 1.25. 
In form so like a sleek bantam hen, in habits so like 
a coot, the Florida Gallinule is a most interesting study. 
