4 Abbott, Summer Bird-life of the Newark Marshes. [ Jan 



the open tract, was covered with a solid scum of duckweed so thick 

 that swimming birds left no path in it, as it closed immediately in 

 their wake. The cat-tails often extended at least two feet above 

 the wader's head, so that in a thick bed it would have been easy to 

 lose one's bearings were it not for the tall chimney of a Bluing 

 Factory close by — evidence in itself of the proximity of civilization 

 to the marsh birds' haunt. 



The result of our day and a half in the swamp was most gratify- 

 ing. With the exception of the Coot we found the nest of every 

 species we hoped for, and others beside. Long-billed Marsh 

 Wrens (Telmatodytes palustris) were the most abundant birds 

 found. Their nests were hanging in the cat-tails almost like some 

 sort of fruit, and one tired of sticking his finger into them as he 

 pushed them from his path. 



Next in numbers were without doubt the Gallinules, whose 

 strident notes, consisting chiefly of a sharp monosyllable or a 

 laugh-like cackle, were continually in our ears. Mr. Hann and I 

 found no less than seven inhabited nests the first afternoon and 

 at least three times as many empty ones. The inhabited nests 

 contained anywhere from ten eggs to one young bird. The nests 

 themselves, which are composed entirely of dead rushes with but 

 a shallow cup, are usually placed in an isolated tussock or else 

 at the edge of a cat-tail bed, so that the bird when leaving may 

 have immediate access to open water. A notable exception, how- 

 ever, was a nest found in a dense growth of cat-tails, at least twelve 

 feet from open water. In the majority of cases the bed of the 

 nest was four to six inches from the surface of the water, but several, 

 perhaps built by birds whose first nests had been flooded, were 

 higher. Almost every nest had a sort of sloping runway to the 

 water's edge by which the bird probably always entered and left 

 the nest. One nest was especially worthy of notice for its unusual 

 height above the water, as we could barely see into it when stand- 

 ing on tiptoe in the mud. It was placed high on a mass of cat-tails 

 tangled by the wind. Occasionally the tips of the rushes were 

 drawn together to form a sort of arch over a nest, as is done by rails, 

 but this was by no means universal. 



The Gallinules' eggs are of a brownish buff ground color, spec- 

 kled and blotched with reddish brown and umber. No prettier 



