Gallinule SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. 



colour, with some Mack on the centre of the throat. Tail 

 dusky brown, darkest in centre, and almost pointed. 



Season : Summer resident. 



Breeds : Freely from the Middle States northward ; in brackish and 

 salt marshes. 



Nest : In reeds, near water ; a slight mat of marsh-grass, etc. 



Eggs ; Distinguishable from other species by the distinct drab ground- 

 colouring. 



Bange : Temperate North America, but most common east of the 

 Plains. South, in winter, to the West Indies and northern 

 South America. 



The common Rail of gunners, a little larger than the 

 moulted Bobolink or Reedbird, with which it is closely 

 associated in the southern marshes, sharing with it the 

 name of Ortolan. 



The flesh of this Rail is tender and sweet, but rather 

 tasteless, unless an artificial flavour is imparted to it in the 

 cooking. Its value as an article of food, as in the case of 

 many Reedbirds, depends upon the curiously enthusiastic 

 taste of gourmands, and, as with the Bobolink, it seems a 

 waste of powder, as well as of exuberant life, to kill them, 

 the edible result being a pitiful mouthful of gritty, shot- 

 filled flesh, stabbed through by a skewer, and merely serv- 

 ing to lengthen some weary dinner where a collection of 

 animal and vegetable bric-a-brac takes the place of satisfac- 

 tory nourishment. 



Florida Gallinule : Gallinula galeata. 



Blue Rail; Red-billed Mud Hen. 



Length : 12-14 inches. 



Male and Female: Head and neck bluish gray, back olive-brown, 

 wings and tail dark. Beneath dark gray, grading to white 

 on belly. Bill and frontal plate red. 



Season: Summer resident of the Housatonic River. Twelve eggs 

 taken at Stratford June 25, 1891, by Mr. W. H. Lucas. 



Breeds : Through its range, but only casually in the northern part. 



Nest : A platform of broken and matted reeds, built up to form a hol- 

 low nest, seeming oftentimes to rest on the water, as it is moored 

 to shifting reeds. 



248 



