Pale buff. 



THE BIRD BOOK 



219. Florida Gallinule. GalUnula galeala. 



Range — Temperate North America, from New 

 England, Manitoba and California, southward. 



A grayish colored bird o£ similar size to the 

 last {13 inches long), witli flanks streaked with 

 white, and with the bill and crown plate reddish. 

 They nest in 



colonies in ^ ",i i--. » 



marshes and ,-, ^.'^~' "'■.■■ ■"•■*?:;■,, 



swamps, build- - ->» — 



ing their nests 

 like those of 

 the Purple 

 Gallinule. The 

 eggs, too, are 

 similar, hut 

 larger and 

 slightly duller. 

 Size 1.75x1.20. 

 Data.— Monte- 

 zuma marshes, Florida, June 6, 1S94. Eleven 

 eggs. Nest of dead flaggs, floating in two feet of 

 water. C'ollector, Robert Warwick. 



['230,] European Coot. Fiilica atra. 



A European species very similar to the next, 

 and only casually found in Greenland. Nesting 

 the same as our species. 



'-i'il. Coot. Fidicu tnncricdua. 



Range. — Whole of temperate North America, 

 from the southern parts of the Britisli Provinces, 

 southward; very common in suitable localities 

 throughout its range. 



The Coot bears some resemblance to the 

 Florida Gallmule, but is somewhat larger, 

 its bill is white witli a blackish band about 

 the middle, and each toe has a scalloped 

 web. They inhabit the same marshes and 

 sloughs that are used by the Rails and Gal- 

 linules as nesting places, and they have the 

 same retiring habits, skulking through the 

 grass to avoid observation, rather than fly- 

 ing. Their nests are either floating piles 

 of decayed -vegetation, or are built of dead 

 rushes in clumps of rushes on the banks. 

 They generally build in large colonies. The 

 eggs number from six to sixteen and have 

 a grayish ground color, finely specked all over :the surface with blackish. Size 

 1.80x1.30. 



136 





rio 



tula Gallinule. 

 Coot, 



