1907 1 Abbott, Summer Bird-life of the Newark Marshes. H 



the water (not including the covering of the eggs, which would make 

 it another one half inch) ; nest about eight inches deep from water 

 line to bottom of structure; attached to cat-tails in three places; 

 at two of these places there were two stalks of cat-tails and only a 

 single one at the third; the double stalks were on opposite sides of 

 the nest, and the single one between these on the inside arc; these 

 stalks were all about an inch in from the edge of the nest; you could 

 pass your hand entirely under the nest except where the stems of 

 the cat-tails came through, so it was thus truly a floating structure 

 merely anchored to the cat-tails, composed of decaying vegetation 

 and almost entirely of cat-tails." 



In reference to the food of the Gallinules, it might be added that 

 they are not, as I at first supposed, dependent upon the presence 

 of duckweed, as Dr. Merriam found the birds nesting in a marsh 

 near Chicago, where there was no duckweed at all. 



To sum up, five separate visits were made to the marsh during 

 the summer of 1906, comprising four full days and two afternoons. 

 Evidences were found of the following species nesting there: 

 Pied-billed Grebe, American Bittern, Least Bittern, Virginia Rail 

 (?), Florida Gallinule, American Coot, Red-winged Blackbird, 

 Swamp Sparrow, and Long-billed Marsh Wren. Of these birds, 

 the most interesting of course are the Grebe, the Gallinule, and 

 the Coot. In 'American Museum Guide Leaflet, No. 22' (July, 

 1906) — the latest publication on the birds of the vicinity of New 

 York City, — Mr. Frank M. Chapman says of the Pied-billed Grebe: 

 "Occurs chiefly as a migrant. I know of no definite instance of 

 its breeding"; of the Florida Gallinule: "Its nest has not been 

 found in the immediate vicinity of New York City, where it is 

 known only as a rare migrant"; and of the American Coot: "Re- 

 corded as breeding only near Morristown, N. J." Although we 

 failed actually to find the nest of the Coot, we discovered five occu- 

 pied nests of the Grebes, and seventeen occupied nests of the Galli- 

 nules. This latter figure does not, however, give an adequate 

 idea of the numbers of the Gallinules, for at least fifty empty nests 

 were found, all of which must have been constructed this year, as 

 we were informed by some boys that the marsh is burned over each 

 winter for use as a skating pond. 



