THE FLORIDA GALLINULE. 453 



"Ever on the lookout for any danger that may menace it, at the least 

 noise it takes to flight and hides among the rushes. It is only when its place 

 of retreat is inaccessible that flight is attempted, its movement in the air being 

 heavy and not well sustained. Its voice is loud and strong but has in it nothing 

 remarkable. Worms, molluscs, and the fruit of various kinds of aquatic 

 plants are its food. It gathers seeds and carries them to its beak with its 

 claws, and it also makes use of them in clinging to the rushes where the water 

 is very deep" (Brewer). 



No. 203. 

 FLORIDA GALLINULE. 



A. O. U. No. 219. (iallinula galeata (Licht.). 



Description. Adult: Frontal shield and bill bright red, the latter tipped 

 with greenish yellow; general plumage blackish slate; above heavily overlaid with 

 olive-brown on back and scapulars ; edges of wings and lateral and posterior under 

 tail-coverts white ; a few flank feathers narrowly striped with white ; feet greenish ; 

 tibiae red. In winter specimens the frontal shield is narrower and the feathers 

 of the belly more or less white-tipped. Immature : Similar to winter adult, but 

 frontal shield reduced ; bill brownish, yellow-tipped ; feathers of lower parts more 

 extensively white-tipped. Downy young : "Glossy black, the lower parts sooty 

 along the median line ; throat and cheeks interspersed with silvery-white hairs" 

 (Ridgway). Length 13.75 (349-3); wing 6.50-7.25 (165.1-184.2); tail about 

 2 -75 (69-9) ; bill (to frontal shield) 1.26 (32.) ; tarsus 2.20 (55.9) ; middle toe and 

 claw 3.20 (81.3). 



Recognition Marks. Little Hawk size; nearly uniform slaty coloration; 

 bright red bill and frontal shield distinctive. 



Nest, a platform of dried reeds and grasses raised above surrounding mud 

 and water of swamp. Eggs, 6-13, usually 8 or 9, buff or brownish buff, sparingly 

 speckled and spotted or blotched with reddish brown, never ( ?) black. Av. size, 

 1.77 x 1.22 (45. x 30.9). 



General Range. Temperate and tropical America from Canada to Brazil 

 and Chili. 



Range in Ohio. Not uncommon summer resident in the larger swamps 

 throughout the state. 



GALLINULA literally, little hen, is the connecting link between 

 ducks and chickens. On the one hand she swims freely and dives readily to 

 escape a pursuer, moving upon the surface of the water rather daintily, nod- 

 ding the head and perking the tail with each stroke, as if she were working 

 her passage. When under the water the bird makes all speed to shelter, 

 where, if sore pressed, she is said to cling to the submerged stems of water 

 plants, protruding only the nostrils for air. On the other hand the water-hen 

 moves nimbly through the reeds and walks upon the lily pads, or ranges the 

 grass on the dry borders of the swamp. The resemblance to the domestio 



