114 BIRDS OF NORTH CAROLINA 



This brilliantly colored bird does not appear to come often to North Carolina 

 and diligent search by us in suitable regions of the State has as yet failed to reveal 

 its nest. H. H. Brimley shot one which had alighted in a tree on the border of a 

 pond near Raleigh on June 6, 1887. Another specimen in the State Museum was 

 sent from Craven County. We have no other records of its occurrence within our 

 borders. It is a marsh-loving bird and should be looked for among rushes or lily- 

 pads about the margins of fresh-water ponds or lakes. Its nesting habits are 

 like those of the rails. 



Genus Gallinula (Briss.) 



95. Gallinula galeata galeata (Licht.}. FLORIDA GALLINULE. 



Ad. Dark bluish slate color; back and scapulars washed with olive-brown; belly whitish; 

 flanks with a few conspicuous white stieaks; under tail-coverts white; crown with a bare, 

 bright-red plate; bill the same color, tipped with yellowish; legs bright-red at the tibiae. 1m. 

 Similar, but under parts grayish white; crown-plate much smaller and the bill brownish; no 

 red on the legs. Downy young. "Glossy black, the lowerparts sooty along the median line; 

 throat and cheeks interspersed with silvery white hairs" (Ridgw.). L., 13.50; W., 7.00; Tar., 

 2.15; B., from posterior margin of nostril, .80. (Chap., Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range. Breeds from New York southward; winters from Georgia southward. 



Range in North Carolina. -Occasional during the migrations in all parts of the State. Has 

 been detected breeding in Craven County. 



FIG. 76. FLORIDA GALLINULE. 



The Florida Gallinule inhabits reedy lakes and the backwaters of rivers, building 

 its nest, like the rails, among the tall stems of water-plants. We know of only one 

 nest having been found in the State. This was discovered on Lake Ellis, Craven 

 County, by P. B. Philipp, June 16, 1909. Thinking he had found a nest of the 

 King Rail, and desiring to get a photograph of the bird, he set his camera and 

 from a distance liberated the shutter with a string the moment when, from his 

 hiding-place, he discovered a bird entering the nest. Upon developing the plate he 

 found that the camera had made an interesting addition to North Carolina orni- 

 thology, for the bird was a Florida Gallinule. 



In addition to this we possess but seven records of the bird in North Carolina. 

 These are as follows: Craven County, one taken by Clarke and Morgan, 1884; 

 Bertie County, one found helpless in a dooryard after a rain, June 6, 1892; Orange 



