Bulletin of the Michigan Ornithological Club. 



39 



to think of it ! But a person can get used 

 to anything — even to getting hung, they 

 say — and so it was, for in a short time 

 that part of us«that was in the water was 

 warmer and more comfortable than that 

 which was out and exposed to the cold 

 wind. 



We took Mr. Hankinson's camera with 

 us and a half-dozen plates — before the day 

 was over we wished that we had taken 

 more. Having so much to carry made 

 the walking worse than ever. We had 

 gone but a -short distance from the road 

 when I noticed a Massasauga .{Sistrurus 

 catenatus) about thirty inches long, lying 

 partially under some brush. He seemed 

 very sluggish, on account of the low 

 te m pe r a t u r e, 1 

 suppose, and 

 when I disturbed 

 him, turned slow- 

 ly and crawled 

 into a hole. He 

 showed no pug- 

 nacious proclivi- 

 ties whatever ; he 

 did not even 

 "rattle." 



We were at the 

 Coot's nest by the 

 time it was light 

 enough to take a 

 picture, but we 

 saw no more of 

 the birds than on 

 Saturday. After 

 taking an expos- 

 ure of this and of 

 the Sora's nest, 

 we took a view 

 of the marsh in 

 general at this 

 place, and then 

 Gallinule's nest. 



ran onto a Pied-billed Grebe's 

 two eggs. 'his 



taming 



nest con- 

 was a floating 



mass of decayed vegetation, somewhat 

 resembling in shape the frustrum of a 

 cone, hollowed on top, and about four 

 inches high above the water, which was 

 about a foot and a half deep at this place. 

 This nest was not dry like the Coot's and 

 Gallinule's, but was damp even where the 

 eggs lay. In the water around the nest 

 were pieces of broken egg-shell, and after 

 a short search we found five little birds 

 hidden around among the vegetation. 

 They were evidently just hatched, and had 

 probably hidden upon our first approach. 

 It is doubtful whether we should have 

 found them at all if they had stayed in 



concealment, but 

 becoming impa- 

 tient, I suppose, 

 one started out to 

 return to the nest, 

 and it was then 

 that I espied him. 

 When I attempt- 

 ed to catch him 

 he dived, and 

 coming up in a 

 patch of alga3, 

 became entangled 

 that I caught 



so 



l Jr> J 



Nest of the Florida Gallinule. 



(Photo by T. L. Hankinson.) 



eggs. 



went to get one of the 

 There were now ten 

 showing that one had been laid each 

 day since our previous visit. 



While Mr. Hankinson was adjusting the 

 camera, which was no small task under 

 the conditions, I explored the neighbor- 

 hood for more nests. We had noticed 

 that the birds, in general, seemed to have a 

 preference for the small patches of reeds 

 and bushes, or "islands,'" as we called 

 them, in the larger and more open "ponds, '' 

 so I made a tour of these. My search 

 was not without results, for I found several 

 unoccupied Coot's nests, and unexpectedly 



him easily. A 

 short search re- 

 vealed the other 

 four. 



These young 

 birds were very 

 pretty, to my way 

 of thinking . 

 Plump little bob- 

 tailed balls of 

 down, with two 

 broadly lobed paddles set on behind, and 

 the merest apologies for wings. They 

 swam around so easily, that it seemed 

 impossible that this was, perhaps, the first 

 time they had ever been in the water. 

 The general color was black and white, 

 there being four white stripes running the 

 whole length of the back, the two outer 

 spreading well over the sides, and all run- 

 ning up the neck, where the black streaks 

 were not much broader than the white ; 

 on the sides the two colors mingled more, 

 giving a grayish appearance; breast and 

 belly white; smaller bands of white on 

 the sides of the neck ran diagonally to the 



