BIRDS FOUND IN BAYOUS AND MARSHES 105 



cup-shaped depression lined with fine grasses, usually in 

 a wet meadow ; it may be mistaken for that of a meadow 

 lark, but is nearly an inch less in diameter and never 

 arched over. The Black Rail nests in the marshes at 

 Alviso, California, and, I have no doubt, elsewhere 

 throughout the State. The young are tiny black balls of 

 down, apparently less than one inch in diameter ; they 

 leave the nest the moment the down is dry, and run 

 about with the agility of sandpipers. Although so tiny, 

 they have the instinct of self-preservation to a marked 

 degree ; whenever danger threatens they stiffen into un- 

 winking puff-balls, with only their beady black eyes to 

 betray life. 



219. FLORIDA GALLINULE, OR RED-BILLED 

 MUD-HEN. — Gallinula galeata. 



Family : The Rails, Gallinules, and Coots. 



Length: 13.25. 



Adults: Dark slate-color, sometimes tinged with brown on back and 



whitish on belly ; edge of wing and a patch on flank white ; bill and 



frontal shield red, tipped with greenish ; legs and feet greenish. 

 Doiony Young: Uniform black, a few white hairs among the down on 



throat and cheeks. 

 Geographical Distribution: Tropical and temperate North America, 



north to British provinces. 

 Breeding Mange : For the Pacific slope, from Oregon southward. 

 Breeding Season : April, May, and June. 

 Nest : A mat of rushes bent over and more or less woven together, over 



water. 

 Eggs: 8 to 10 ; cream-buff, finely marked with reddish brown and 



chocolate. Size 1.87 X 1.25. 



In form so like a sleek bantam hen, in habits so like 

 a coot, the Florida Gallinule is a most interesting study. 



