NESTING OF THE FLORIDA GALLINULE. 



The Florida Gallinules or Rice Hens, 

 have a more extensive range than their 

 name would indicate. They breed abun- 

 dantly throughout the south Atlantic and 

 Gulf states, and are met with in limited 

 numbers as far north as Massachusetts 

 and Maine, and from there westward 

 along the Canadian border to Minnesota. 

 In the middle states, east of the Missis- 

 sippi river, their appearance is somewhat 

 erratic, though they abound in certain lo- 

 calities in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and 

 Illinois. The northern portion of the two 

 latter states, a locality known as the Calu- 

 met Region, is a favorite summer home 

 of the Florida Gallinule, where they show 

 a preference for sluggish water, sur- 

 rounded by cat-tails, flags . and bul- 

 rushes. 



Gallinules, in various phases of their 

 lives, appear as a sort of connecting link 

 between the rails and coots. In Cook 

 County, Illinois, I have observed the 

 king, sora, and Virginia rails, together 

 with the mud-hen or coot, all nesting in 

 close proximity to Gallinules, and in sev- 

 eral instances, a striking resemblance was 

 noticeable between the Florida Gallinule 

 and some one of the above species. For 

 instance, the sora rail, with its com- 

 pressed little body and wide spreading 

 toes, always reminds me of a Gallinule 

 "on a small scale" for, as the former 

 swims about among the rushes, or bobs 

 in and out of the -tall grass, it behaves 

 exactly like its larger relative. One sora 

 which I noted, took the liberty of deposit- 

 ing a couple of her eggs in a newly made 

 Gallinule' s nest. 



During the month of June, Gallinules 

 are extremely noisy and keeo up an in- 

 cessant "chucking" or "cackling," both 

 day and night. This noise, together with 

 the "cooing" of the coot; the "clicking" 

 of the rails, and the "pumping" of the 

 bitterns, produces one of the most spec- 

 tacular effects in the history of the bird 

 student. 



Like the coot, the Gallinule often 

 breeds in colonies, constructing its nest 



in one of two ways. Some nests are 

 built in or on a clump of dead rushes or 

 reeds, and float upon the water, in a simi- 

 liar manner to that of a mud-hen. Oth- 

 ers are suspended a foot or two above 

 the water, in a rank growth of vegeta- 

 tion, and are handsomely woven with 

 blades of marsh grass and green rushes. 

 Occasionally the birds commence nest 

 building and laying on the same dav, 

 and any person observing an egg in such 

 a situation would scarcely recognize the 

 work already completed as the founda- 

 tion of a new nest. When the nest is 

 completed, a pathway is constructed of 

 the same material that is used in building 

 the nest and forms a "runway" extend- 

 ing from the nest into the water. This 

 is a characteristic which immediately dis- 

 tinguishes the Gallinule' s nest from that of 

 the coot. 



The eggs, numbering from seven to 

 fourteen, are laid, according to locality 

 and environment, not earlier than April 

 or later than July. In northern Illinois, I 

 have found full sets between May eight- 

 eenth and July twentieth. The eggs show 

 remarkable variation in size and shape. 

 The smallest I have ever seen, averaged 

 one and fifty hundredths inches long by 

 one and fifteen hundredths inches in di- 

 ameter. The largest eggs were two and 

 thirty-five hundredths inches long by one 

 and fifty hundredths inches in diameter. 

 In color some specimens have a bluish 

 gray background and are spotted with 

 shades of red and lilac. These bear a 

 resemblance to eggs of the king rail. An- 

 other type partakes of the shades found 

 on a mud-hen's egg; they are rather 

 finely spotted with dark brown, on a 

 clay-colored background. But the hand- 

 somest variety of Gallinule's eggs are 

 distinctly different from either of the 

 above. They possess a highly polished 

 surface, with a reddish or light brown 

 background, upon which are displayed 

 large and bold spots of umber, brown 

 and lilac, chiefly about the larger half 

 of the egg. 



Gerard Alan Abbott. 



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