106 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS EGGS. 



Their nests are woven of strips of rushes or grasses, and are well "cupped" to 

 receive -the eggs. They are on the ground on the border of, or in, marshy 

 places. Mr. Childs has a fine set of eight eggs, taken by Arthur T. .Wayne, at 

 Mt. Pleasant, S. C., June 10, 1903. The nest was located in an oat field. The 

 eggs have a creamy white ground, and are specked all over with reddish brown. 

 Size 1.03 x .75. 



[216.1.] Farallone Black Rail. Porzana coturniculm. 



Known only from a single specimen, which is slightly smaller than 

 censis and without the white specks on the back. 



[217.] CornCrake. Crex crex. 



This European Rail is casually found in Greenland and along the Atlantic 

 coast of North America. It is the most abundant of European Rails and is 

 .found breeding in marshes, meadows and along streams. 



218. Purple Gallinule. lonornis martinica. 



Range. South Atlantic an Gulf States; casually north in eastern United 

 States to Massachusetts and Ohio, 



A very handsome bird with purplish head, 

 neck and under parts, and a greenish back. 



^Blll Like all the Gallinules and Coots, this spec- 



ies has a scaly crown plate. An abundant 

 breeding species in the southern parts of its 

 range. Its nests are made of rushes or grasses 

 woven together and either attached to living 

 rushes or placed in tufts of grass. They lay 

 from six to ten eggs of a creamy or pale buff 

 color sparingly blotched with chestnut. Size 

 1.60 x 1.15. Data. Avery's Island, Louis- 

 iana, May 7, 1896. 10 eggs. Nest of dry rushes, 

 woven to standing ones growing around an 

 "alligator hole" in a marsh. Collector, 

 E. A. Mcllhenny. 



[Pale Buff.] 



219. Florida Gallinule. Gallinula galeata. 



Range. Temperate North America, from 

 New England, Manitoba and California, 

 southward. 



A grayish colored bird of similar size to 

 the last (13 inches long), with flanks streaked 

 with white, and with the bill and crown 

 plate reddish. They nest in colonies in 

 marshes and swamps, building their nests 

 like those of the Purple Gallinule. The 

 eggs, too, are similar, but larger and slightly 

 duller. Size 1.75x1.20. Data. Montezuma. 

 marshes, Florida, June 6, 1894. 11 eggs. 

 Nest of dead flags, floating in two feet of 

 water. Collector, Robert Warwick. 



* '**- ' '"^- ' 



[Pale buff.] 



