Vol i907^ IV ] Abbott, Summer Bird-life of the Newark Marshes. 5 



sight could be desired than a large clutch of these handsome eggs 

 resting on their bed of dull brown, and surrounded by the brilliant 

 green of the cat-tails and duckweed. The measurements of a set 

 of eight collected varied in length from 1.67 to 1.76 inches by 1.19 

 to 1.22 inches in width. The newly hatched Gallinule is certainly 

 a most absurd looking little creature. The black down which 

 covers his body, instead of being soft and warm, is coarse and hair- 

 like. On the cheeks and throat every filament is tipped with white 

 which only adds to the ludicrous effect. The top of the little fellow's 

 head is nearly bald, and the skin at the base of the bill is of a 

 bright red color, altogether a poor suggestion of the handsome shield 

 with which the forehead of the adult bird is adorned. In more 

 mature young birds the frontal plate is rudimentary and pale in color, 

 and this, together with a grayish tinge to the neck and breast, 

 render birds of the year easily distinguishable. Young Gallinules 

 swim almost as soon as they are hatched. I was preparing to 

 photograph a nest containing four pipped eggs and two young so 

 recently hatched that shells were still in the nest. But before I 

 could set up my camera one of the little fellows had scrambled out 

 and started swimming in the direction of his mother. She would 

 cluck to him like an old hen and he would answer with low peep- 

 ing notes. Later I found him back in the nest. 



Of the habits of the old Gallinules, I was able, with the increased 

 material at hand, to corroborate and amplify my observations in the 

 Long Island City swamps. In swimming, every stroke is accom- 

 panied by a very marked forward bob of the head, an act which 

 I thought was perhaps an assistance to progression in the complete 

 absence of webbed feet. Gallinules do not paddle after the manner 

 of a duck, but seem to attempt to stride through the water. More 

 than once the feet of both old and young birds were seen to come 

 above the surface of the duckweed in front of the swimming bird. 

 The tips of the wings are raised and crossed in swimming, but 

 when the bird is standing they are folded down against the body. 

 Like all other birds, the Gallinule becomes more courageous as 

 its eggs near hatching. Usually the incubating bird had slipped 

 away unseen before we even discovered her nest. But in the case 

 of the nest containing both eggs and newly hatched young, the 

 sitting bird allowed an approach to within about ten feet, and then 



