146 HISTORY OF THE 



dull flesh color, tinged with olive greenish, the frontal shield rudimentary; iris 

 brown. Downy young: Prevailing color blackish, plumbeous; head, neck and 

 upper parts relieved by numerous crisp, elongated, somewhat filamentous bristles, 

 these sparse, light orange buff and white on the upper parts, but dense and deep 

 salmon orange on the head and neck, where the dark plumbeous down is almost 

 or quite concealed; these colored filaments entirely absent from the whole pileum, 

 which is mostly bald toward the occiput, elsewhere covered with closely-appressed 

 black bristles; lores densely covered with short, stamen-like, orange red papillae. 

 Bill orange red, the tip of the maxilla black; feet dusky (in skin)." 



Stretch of 

 Length. wing. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. Bill* 



Male 15.50 25.50 7.50 2.80 2.10 1.30 



Female... 14.00 24.50 7.10 2.25 2.00 1.30 



This species is not very common on the Atlantic coast, north 

 of the more Southern States, but abundant westward. It breeds 

 occasionally throughout its range, but chiefly from latitude 43 

 to 55; wintering in large flocks in the Southern States and 

 Mexico, decreasing in numbers southward. 



These birds are in many respects like their cousins, the Galli- 

 nules, which they so closely resemble; inhabiting the edges of 

 swampy, boggy ponds, where covered with a rank growth of 

 reeds and rushes. They differ, however, in being social, going 

 in flocks, and in preferring the open water in which to sport and 

 rest, or muskrat houses and bare places of land to rest and dress 

 their feathers upon; keeping, during the breeding season, near 

 their reedy cover, into which they quickly swim and hide, in 

 case of danger; but in the fall of the year, preparatory to migra- 

 tion, they often assemble out upon the open waters. 



They swim and walk with a. nodding motion of the head. I 

 have noticed them occasionally dive for food, but they are not 

 expert divers, and seldom do so except when closely pressed 

 and unable to fly. 



Its flesh is dark and not good eating, and its feathers not soft 

 and downy, therefore not sought after by the pot hunter, nor 

 considered a game bird by the sportsman; and for these reasons 

 the birds are not shy, and are easily approached. They rise from 

 the water in a laborious, running, flapping manner, but, when 

 fairly in the air, fly quite steadily, with neck and feet well 



