392 



ALECTfiRIDES. 



jibovi' tlio shallow Avatov, and sli];'litly Inillowcd. 'I'lic leaves of the cat-tail flag seem 

 to be the favorite material iiseil in its cinistnietinii. i''rom six to eij,'ht is the usuiil 

 number of e},'j,'s, and these are li^Ljiit yellowisli brown, sjiotted and si)lashed with dari< 

 brown, and varying in length from 1.(17 to l.cSO inches, and in breadth from 1.17 In 

 l.LM inciies. AVben driven from her nest, the female bird skulks a short distance 

 tlirough tiie herbage, and then with head erect and expanded tail sin; walks slowly 

 away. 



Mr. Moore foiuid this s])ecies nesting in Florida on the L'Oth of April. One nest, 

 coidaining ten eggs, was in a tussock of grass a few inches al)ove the water, (piitc 

 cxjiosed from above and on all sides, and was made of blades of grass and lineil with 

 the same. The eggs were taken, and on the second day the nest Avas found to con- 

 tain another egg, just laid ; and a day or two later a second one was discovered on ;i 

 tussock lu-ar l)y. It is possilile that two l)irds together laid these twelve eggs. 



Another nest — only just lieguu when found — was visited daily till the young were 

 seen to leave it; this was on the I'Oth of iMay. l>efore this nest was finished an egg 

 was laid in it, and material was added after as many as three eggs had been laid, the 

 total being six. The first was laid on the 2LM «>f Ajnil, and the sixth on the .'JOtli. 

 This nest was (piite unlike the other. It was placed in a close collection of I'oiifr- 

 clvrias, and was fornu'd almost entindy of their leaves. Some were bent down to form 

 the bed of the nest; others were l)ent in a like nuuuier for a rude canopy over it ; 

 others were divided, and used to raise the sides (d' the nest and to finish it. Most df 

 the materials were used in a green state. The leaves of this plant are spongy, and nn 

 losing their vitality shrink to a mere trifle of their living bulk ; and this may have 

 occasioned the additions made to tlu; nest. 



The ground-color of the eggs varies from a dark cream to a light buff, the deptii of 

 the coloring being affected by the influence of the materials of the nest. When first 

 laid, and luistained, the ground-color is a creamy white. The imirkings are usually 

 scattered, small, ami rounded, of liright reddish brown, and lighter and fainter stains 

 of purplish slate. Two specimens of the egg of this bird (Xo. Ili78) collected in 

 ^linnesota by Mr. li. F. Goss, are of oval sliaju', ont^ end but very slightly largiT 

 than the other ; one measures 1.80 inches in length by 1.26 inches in breadth, the 

 other 1.70 by 1.30 inches, 



Gkms FULICA, Lixx.i-:u8. 

 Fulka, Link. S. N. ctl. Id, 17.'>M, ir.-J ; nl 12, 1 17ti(>, 257 (typo, F. atra, Lisx.). 



li. 



Char. Very similar to (UdUniili, Imt flic toes margined by a broad, deeply scalloped latival 

 membrane. Bill shorter than the liead, .straight, strong, compressed, and advancing into tlie I'catlicis 

 of the forehead, where it freipiently forms a wide and somewhat i)rojecting frontal jdate ; nostrils 

 in a groove, with a large nR'nil)rane, near tlie middle of the bill. Wings rather short, second ainl 

 third quills usually longest ; tail very short ; tai'sus robust, sliorter than the middle toe, witli viiv 

 distin t transverse scales ; toes long, each having semicircidar lobes, larger on the iimer side ; hind 

 toe rather long, lol)ed. 



Almost the only difl'erence between FhUm and Gallinula consists in the single character ol' the 

 toes, as pointed out above. The two genera aiv, however, (luite distinct, since there appears to W 

 no species known that is intermediate in the character of the feet. 



Leaving out tlie remarkable F. cornvht, Boxap., which has been made the type of a distinct 

 genus 1 — and we think properly so — there are knoAvn six American species of Fulica, whose cbai- 



1 Lyeomia, Bonap. Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 4, Zool. I. 46 (18.')4). 



