310 GAME BIBVS OF CALIFORNIA 



General disteibution — Tropical and temperate America. Breeds from 

 central California, Arizona, Nebraska, Minnesota, Ontario, New York, and 

 Vermont south through the "West Indies and Mexico to Chile and Argentina, 

 and in the Gralapagos and Bermuda islands; winters from southern California, 

 Arizona, Texas and Georgia southward; casual in Colorado, Quebec, Nova 

 Scotia, New Brunswick and Maine (A. O. IT. Check-list, 1910, pp. 105-106). 



Distribution in California — ^Fairly common summer visitant to fresh-water 

 marshes in southern portion of the state west of the desert divides from Santa 

 Barbara southeastward; also in the San Joaquin-Sacramento Valley north to 

 Sutter County (Belding, MS). Several recorded breeding stations within 

 these areas. Winters sparingly in southern coastal district, as at Los Angeles 

 (Swarth, 1900, p. 15) ; possibly also in the vicinity of Fresno (Tyler, 19136, p. 23). 



Although the Florida Gallinule is a bird of wide distribution in 

 both North and South America, it does not exist in great numbers 

 anywhere in the western United States. Along the Atlantic coast 

 it has been found breeding as far north as Pennsylvania and New 

 York, but on the Pacific coast the northernmost station of record is 

 Sutter County, California. South of the latter place, in the great 

 interior valleys, and on the marshes of southern California from Santa 

 Barbara southeastward, the species breeds regularly, and in the 

 extreme south some individuals remain throughout the winter season. 

 There is but one coastal record for the species north of Santa Barbara. 

 This is for San Francisco (Newberry, 1857, p. 96), and might have 

 been of a bird brought from some interior locality to the markets. 

 The favorite haunts of this bird are the dense tule thickets to be found 

 in fresh-water marshes. From these shelters it seldom ventures out 

 into the open as does its relative, the Mud-hen. 



There is no definite midwinter record for the G-allinule north of 

 Tehachapi, but Tyler (19136, p. 23) saw two individuals near Fresno 

 on November 26, 1907, and a single one near Clovis, Fresno County, 

 March 7, 1908, which led him to suggest that the species may be a 

 permanent resident in that district. At Los Banos, Merced County, 

 the first spring arrivals in 1912 were seen on April 22 (Beck, MS). 

 At Los Angeles, Swarth (1900, p. 15) says that "the young remain 

 until late in the fall, when they nearly all disappear. Usually one or 

 two remain through the winter." 



No other California bird has a flaming red shield on the forehead 

 such as is possessed by the Florida Gallinule. This shield is so con- 

 spicuous, even at a distance, that there is usually no difficulty in 

 recognizing the bird by this feature alone. The Gallinule resembles 

 the Mud-hen in general build, color of plumage and habits, but can 

 be readily distinguished from the latter bird by the lack of white on 

 the wings, by the absence of lobes on the toes, by the red on the legs 

 above the "heel" joint, by the presence of white streaks on the flanks, 

 and by the red instead of white bill. The Gallinule has a rail-like 



