VOl l90fP n ] Braislin, Florida Gallinule Nesting near New York. 191 



bottoms of the ponds are composed of soft, dark, foul-smelling mud 

 which, if not too deep under water, supports a luxurious growth of 

 tall cattail flags. The small leaved, bright green duckweed also 

 finds a congenial habitat here. The bottoms are irregular and 

 not without deep holes, as we afterwards found. 



The summer of 1905 proved a propitious one for investigation 

 as it was dryer and the ponds were not so full of water, and were 

 visited several times. 



On June 21, 1905, several birds were seen, and, as we supposed, 

 were both Gallinules and Coots, and a flat nest among the flags 

 was located. This was empty. Mr. John Hendrickson also killed 

 for me one of the birds that was swimming in the open water 

 beyond the reeds and this proved to be a Gallinule. 



In this specimen, a female, the largest ovule was only the size of 

 a pea and it was believed that some days would have elapsed be- 

 fore she would have laid. Both Gallinules and Coots have been 

 seen later in the season than this in previous years by the Messrs. 

 Hendrickson, so that as yet we were in the dark as to whether the 

 Gallinule or the Coot nested in the ponds. 



The loud call of the birds could be heard in the reeds, and as 

 nearly as we could judge each of the several ponds contained a pair 

 of birds. Mr. Erikson, Assistant Curator of birds at the Brooklyn 

 Institute Museum, who visited the ponds on one occasion with me, 

 stated that the call note was apparently exactly similar to that of 

 the Old World Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus). It slightly also 

 suggests to the writer the harsh note of the domestic Guinea fowl. 



On July 15, 1905, the ponds were visited in company with Mr. 

 C. G. Abbott, and on examining the nest seen on June 21, it was 

 still untenanted, but a few feet away there had been a fresh nest 

 built. This had apparently been disturbed and disarranged, and 

 just outside it we found the remains of two eggs. Their form was 

 preserved but in one a large hole had been made, and in the other 

 a smaller hole in the side, and much of the contents had been 

 removed. This had probably been the work of some early-morning 

 crow visitors. 



The site of the nest was surrounded by water waist-deep, in a 

 clump of reeds. The eggs were preserved. They are the eggs of 

 the Gallinule (Gall inula galcata). No birds were observed on this 



