OP THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 86 



the flags were high enough to conceal the nest. The nest, however, is not 

 generally ready for eggs before the middle of April, and in cold, backward 

 seasons, it is often a fortnight later. The nest is placed in a great variety of 

 situations, and, as I believe this bird pairs for life, certain spots are chosen year 

 after year. It is most frequently placed among the rushes, reeds, and flags 

 growing near the side of the water, and is often a floating structure made many 

 yards from shore. Sometimes it is built amongst the exposed roots of trees grow- 

 ing on the bank, or even on a flat drooping branch above the water. Branches of fir 

 trees are frequently selected, sometimes as much as twenty feet from the ground. 

 In such situations the chicks must be carried down in the parents' claws. The 

 nest is a large bulky structure of rotten aquatic vegetation, loosely put together 

 but trampled down into a rather firm mass. The cavity containing the eggs is 

 rather flat and shallow, and is lined with finer and drier material. Some nests 

 are much higher than others, and many are increased in bulk as incubation pro- 

 gresses. I have known nests added to daily to repair damage caused by the 

 incessant lap of the waves. The eggs are from six to ten in number, sometimes 

 as many as twelve. They are buffish-white or pale reddish-buff in ground-colour, 

 spotted and speckled with reddish-brown and grey. Some eggs are much more 

 handsomely marked than others. They measure on an average 1'7 inch in length 

 by 1'2 inch in breadth. The hen sits closely, attended by the cock, the latter 

 taking the smaller share of incubation, which lasts from about twenty to twenty- 

 four days. When the sitting bird leaves the nest, it covers the eggs with bits of 

 vegetation. This statement has recently been questioned {Zoologist, December, 

 1898). It is, however, confirmed by such careful field naturalists and authorities 

 as Bewick, Waterton, Naumann, Stevenson, Seebohm and Stanley — the latter 

 giving a most interesting instance in his well-known History of Birds, p. 299. 

 There may, of course, be exceptions to the rule ; but even in these cases the bird 

 was possibly surprised and driven from the nest before the eggs could be 

 covered. Although the bird sometimes flies to and from the nest, it usually slips 

 quietly off into the water. Several broods are reared in the year ; young chicks 

 have been found as late as the end of August. The young, clothed in jet-black 

 down, take to the water at once with their parents, which often lead them to 

 running streams near. They are well able to take care of themselves in the 

 moment of danger, and hide in holes and corners directly harm threatens them. 



Diagnostic characters. — Gallinula, with the general colour above 

 olive-brown, below slate-grey, shading into brown on the flanks, which are 

 broadly striped with white. Frontal plate rounded at the top, scarlet ; in young, 

 greenish-brown. Base of under mandible, scarlet. Length, nearly 13 inches. 



Note. — Three species of exotic Gallinule have been recorded as British, but there can be no 

 doubt whatever that in each case the examples obtained were escaped birds. All three are strictly 

 sedentary species. They are the Purple Gallinule, Porphyria caruleus, found in Italy, Spain, and North- 

 west Africa ; the Green-backed Gallinule, Porphyria smaragdonotus, found throughout Africa, with the 

 exception of the north-west, where it is replaced by the preceding species ; and the Martinique Gallinule, 

 Porphyria martinicus, found in tropical and sub-tropical America. They require no further notice in a 

 work on British birds. 



