244 FEATHERED GAME 



is colored as follows: back brownish green, be- 

 coming a dusky color on the wings and tail. 

 Edge of wing white, crissum white with a 

 broad central patch of black running through 

 it to the end of the tail. Frontal plate red. 

 Bill red with yellow tip. Iris red-brown. 

 Legs and feet willowy green, nails black. The 

 bird is from twelve to fourteen inches long, and 

 from twenty to twenty-two inches in extent. 



The bill and frontal plate in all specimens 

 before mentioned as having been taken near 

 Portland lacked the bright colors of the full 

 plumaged bird, these being replaced by dusky 

 green; all fall specimens. 



The nests of this species are loosely made of 

 grass stems placed at the water's edge on tus- 

 socks of earth or even in some half-floating 

 drift-stuff. A nest often contains as many as 

 a dozen eggs. The Gallinule breeds anywhere 

 in its range. 



