6 Abbott, Summer Bird-life of the Newark Marshes. [fan 



stayed close by, calling anxiously. In fact so bold did this bird 

 show herself to be that I resolved to attempt to photograph her on 

 her nest. It was very late in the afternoon and little time could be 

 spent concealing the camera. But nevertheless, almost as soon as 

 I had hidden myself in a neighboring bed of rushes, the bird 

 showed herself, and in twenty minutes I had made an exposure. 

 The light, however, in the meantime had become so very poor that 

 the plate was hopelessly underexposed, though the faint image it 

 contains is at least proof that it would be by no means an impossi- 

 bility to photograph the shy Gallinule at home. The bird's actions 

 about her nest interested me. Her note of anxiety was a strident 

 keck, which she maintained ceaselessly at intervals of a few seconds, 

 as she walked nervously about the reeds behind her nest. Each 

 keck was accompanied by a spasmodic flirt of the tail ; the bird also 

 kept constantly turning and jerking her head. All her movements 

 were most sedate and dignified and at each step the feet were 

 raised daintily and the toes closed. But what surprised me most 

 was that the bird continued her anxious calling even when seated 

 upon the nest, an action which I have observed in no other bird; 

 in the case of sparrows and the like, a cessation of the 'chipping' 

 is often a sign that the bird is back on her nest. The Gallinule did 

 not seem to hear the click of the shutter, but when, by continued 

 pulling of the thread, I caused surrounding reeds to sway, she 

 scrambled precipitately off her nest. 



Our first acquaintance with the home life of the Pied-billed 

 Grebe was made through the discovery of a bird, who could not 

 have been more than a few hours old, but who was already an 

 adept at diving. Indeed it was very difficult to follow him as he 

 made quite extended swims under the duck-weed. He was a 

 sleek and strangely striped little creature, suggesting somehow both 

 in form and markings a peculiar fitness for his submarine excur- 

 sions. He was quite alone when found, neither brothers and 

 sisters nor parents being seen anywhere about. But close by was 

 an empty Grebe's nest which he had doubtless just left. Not long 

 afterwards a Grebe was spied sitting upon her nest in a sparse 

 growth of rushes. She did not, however, allow a closer approach 

 than fifty feet before ducking over the edge and disappearing with- 

 out waiting to cover up her three eggs. This nest was discovered 



