FLOEIDA GALLINULE. 513 



OalUmla galeata, WnwATON, Field Notes, i, 1861, in:? ; Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 369, 

 378 ; EepriQt, 1861, 11, 20 ; Food of BirdB, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, r>73; Re- 

 print, 1875, 13.— LanodON, Cat. Birds of Cin , 1877, 16 ; Revised List, Journ. Gin. 

 Soo. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 184 ; Reprint, 18 ; Sammer Birds, ib , iii, 1880, 228. 



Florida Gallinule, Trkmblt, Field Notes, i, 1861, 180.— Whkaton, BqU. Natt. Club, ii, 

 1877, 83. 



Crex galeata, Lichtenstein, Verz. Doubl,, 1823, 80. 

 GalHnula chloropus, Bonaparte, Syn., 18;i8, 336. 

 Gallinula galtaia, Bonaparte, Am. Orn., iv, 1832, 128. 



Head, neck and nnder-parts, grayish-black, darkest on the former, paler or -whitening 

 on the belly ; back brownisliolive ; wings and tail dosky ; crissum, edge of wing, and 

 stripes on the flanks, white; bill, frontal plate, and ring around tibiae red, the former 

 tipped with yellow ; tarsi and toes greenibh ; 12-15 long ; wing, 6 J-7i ; tail, 3^ ; gape 

 of bill, abont 1^; tarsus, about 2. 



Habitat, United States, southerly. Resident in the Southern States. Northward to 

 Massachusetts rarely, to Canada West, Kansas, Minnesota, and San Francisco. West 

 Indies. Central America. South America to Chili. 



The Florida Gallinule, first noticed as an Ohio bird by Dr. Kirtland, 

 quoted on page 218, is a not uncommon summer resident in extensive 

 swamps and marshes throughout the State. It; is equally retiring in its 

 habits with the Rails, but unlike them it often takes to water from choice, 

 and swims with ease and buoyancy. When swimming it pr'esents a very 

 duckish or rather cootish appearance, its body being vastly distended by 

 large air sacks, which inflated change the aspect of the bird entirely. 



On its migrations it sometimes makes its appearance in barnyards, 

 associating with domestic fowls, and in other unexpected places. 



A nest and nine eggs of this bird were taken at Sandusky Bay, in 1874, 

 by my friend, C. J. Orton. These eggs were brownish buff, rather thickly 

 spotted with dark reddish-brown and umber. In shape they were an 

 elongated oval. 



Mr. Langdon (Summer Birds, 1. c.) gives the following account of this 

 species as observed by him in Ottawa county : 



" A very common species, breeding abundantly in the more open portions of the 

 marsh. The nests are situated amongst the ' saw-grass,' and constructed of its dried 

 blades. Their height varies, some almost resting on the water, while others are placed 

 a foot or more above it and have an incline eight or ten inches in width, made of dried 

 grass, extending from the water's edge, which makes them a conspicuous object where 

 the surrounding vegetation is not too denpe. The dozen or so sets of eggs taken were 

 in various stages of incubation, and a few young were observed following their parents. 

 The young, when a. day or two old, are about the size of a newly hatched domestic 

 chicken, and when found in the open water are easily captured ; they present a curious 

 sight paddling for dear life, with their bright red and orange bills standing out in strong 

 ■contrast with their sooty-black, down-covered bodies." 



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