COMMON GALLINULE. 331 



Gallinules were seen in great numbers on every bayou leading towards 

 the waters of the St John, and at that early period the manifestations of 

 their amatory propensity were quite remarkable. The male birds courted 

 the females, both on the land and on the water ; they frequently spread 

 out their tail Hke a fan, and moved round each other, emitting a murmur- 

 ing sound for some seconds. The female would afterwards walk to the 

 water's edge, stand in the water up to her breast, and receive the caresses 

 of the male, who immediately after would strut on the water before her, 

 jerking with rapidity his spread tail for a while, after which they would 

 both resume their ordinary occupations. This was in the middle of the 

 day, when I could have counted eight or ten pairs in sight. 



The nest is formed with more labour than art, being composed of a 

 quantity of Avithered rushes and plants, interwoven in a circular form, 

 frequently from two to three inches thick in the centre, surrounded by an 

 edge or brim four or five inches high. If not greatly disturbed, these 

 birds raise several broods in a season, using the same nest, and making 

 additions to it previous to depositing each new set of eggs. In Lower 

 Louisiana I found it usually five or six feet from the water, among the 

 rankest weeds, along the bayous and lakes, which are so numerous there. 

 In some instances it was placed on a prostrate trunk of a tree over the 

 water, when the materials of which it was composed were less abundant 

 than in other circumstances. I never saw one floating loose, but have 

 often heard people say they had occasionally seen a nest in that state, al- 

 though I am not much disposed to give credit to such assertions. The 

 number of eggs seldom exceeds eight or nine, and is more frequently from 

 five to seven. As the bird lays more than once, its progeny is thus nu- 

 merous. The Gallinules cover their eggs when they leave them, no doubt 

 to protect them from crows and other enemies, but return to them as soon 

 as food has been procured, although both sexes incubate. The eggs 

 measure an inch and five-eighths, by an inch and one and a half eighths, 

 and are of a dull darkish cream colour, spotted and dotted wth various 

 tints of reddish-brown and umber. 



The females are as assiduous in their attentions to their young as the 

 wild Turkey Hens ; and, although the young take to the water as soon 

 as hatched, the mother frequently calls them ashore, when she nurses and 

 dries them under her body and wings. In this manner she looks after 

 them until they are nearly a month old, when she abandons them and be- 

 gins to breed again. The young, which arc covered with hairy, shining, 



