FLORIDA GALLINULE 243 
heads in the same manner when walking. 
They are good runners and in case of danger 
have a great talent at disappearing; like their 
cousins, the rails, they are more prone to run 
and skulk than to fly. They are fairly good 
swimmers, as well, sitting lightly and easily on 
the water, keeping up the motion of their heads 
and flirting their tails up and down in rail 
fashion as they go. They are feeders upon 
both animal and vegetable matter, the grass 
seeds and the worms and snails of the bogs be- 
ing equally acceptable to them. 
Most of their traveling is done at night. It 
is even said that their migrations (must we be- 
lieve this?) are performed on foot—a sort of 
feathered ‘‘tramp.’’ Their legs are stout, and 
except that the toes are long, slender and with- 
out lobes, as in the rails, and that the bird is 
somewhat smaller, it closely resembles the 
‘‘coot,’’ or ‘‘mud hen,’’ so well known to duck 
hunters. The long toes spreading out over a 
comparatively wide surface so distribute the 
weight of the bird that it can run with the 
greatest ease over the broad-leaved water 
plants and matted floating grasses. 
In its breeding dress the Florida Gallinule 
