A Brewster on Florida Gallinules. [January 



flags, he rose and flew with legs hanging down, wing-beats 

 feeble and labored, the whole bearing was indicative of strain and 

 cxiiaustion, which received an added emphasis from the abrnpt 

 reckless drop into the bnshes which ended the flight. 



Late one afternoon we snddenly heard a great outcry, and 

 soon our pair of Gallinides appeared ; the female, who was 

 much the plainer-colored in every respect, swimming swiftly, 

 her tail lowered and about in line with the back ; the male flap- 

 ping his wings on the water in his eagerness to overtake her. 

 This he soon succeeded in doing, but just as he clutched at her 

 vvitli open bill, evidently with amorous designs, she eluded him 

 by a sudden clever turn. He then swam round her in a narrow 

 circle, carrying his tail wide-spread and erect, his neck arched, 

 his scarlet front fairly blazing and apparently much enlarged and 

 inflated. Seeing that she would not permit his approaches, he 

 soon gave over the pursuit and returned to his favorite raft, while 

 the female swam into the bushes. During the chase one of the 

 birds, presumably the male, uttered repeatedly the following cry : 

 ticket — ticket — ticket — ticket (six to eight repetitions each 

 time). This was doubtless a wooing note, for we heard it on no 

 other occasion. 



The calls of these Gallinules were so varied and complex that 

 it seems hopeless to attempt a full description of them. I cer- 

 tainly know of no other bird which utters so many dilVerent 

 sounds. Sometimes they gave four or Ave loud harsh screams, 

 very like those of a hen in the clutches of a Hawk, only slower 

 and at longer intervals ; sometimes a series of sounds closely 

 resembling those made by a brooding hen when disturbed, but 

 louder and sharper. Then would succeed a number of queru- 

 lous, complaining cries, intermingled with subdued chicking. 

 Again 1 heard something which sounded like this : kr-r-r-r-r^ 

 kruc-kruc^ krar-r ; kh-kh-kh-kh-kea-kea, delivered rapidly and 

 falling in pitch toward the end. Shorter notes were a single, 

 abrupt, explosive kup^ very like the cry given by a startled frog 

 just as he jumps into the water, and a low kloc-kloc or kloc- 

 kloc-kloc. Speaking generally, the notes were all loud, harsh, 

 and discordant, and nearly all curiously hen-liUe. 



At intervals of perhaps half an hour during the greater p;irt of 

 the day the two birds called to one another from various parts of 

 the swamp, evidently for the purpose of ascertaining each other's 



