Jan., 1917 FROM FIELD AND STUDY 23 



made a trip to the park on October 15; and on approaching the lake, I saw, swimming- 

 near some lily pads, a waterbird which appeared to be a very nervous Coot, but on sec- 

 ond sight proved to be something different, although there was a similarity in size and 

 shape. 



The field description is as follows: Head, neck, and throat, sooty gray; wings, rich 

 brownish color, the outer primaries being edged with white; the under parts of the tail 

 were also white, like that of the coot. The bill and shield were of a yellowish color, as 

 were the legs, which were very long. 



This bird, evidently a Florida Gallinule (Gallinula galeata) was seen up to and 

 including November 13, either walking over the lily pads, feeding on the banks, or swim- 

 ming on the lake, which it did in true Coot fashion. 



Judging from skins seen at the University of California, the Gallinule seen at the 

 park is an immature specimen. Mrs. Morton Gibbons also saw the Gallinule, and identi- 

 fied it as such before knowing my views. This record should be of interest to San Fran- 

 cisco ornithologists as this is but the second time this species has been reported for this 

 county, although it has been found breeding around Los Banos. — Harold E. Haxsex, San 

 Francisco, California, November 23, 1916. 



The Valley Quail Occupying Nests of the Road-runner. — On the afternoon of April 

 10, 1915, near San Diego, in company with Mr. A. M. Ingersoll, a female Valley Quail 

 {Lophortyx c. vallicola) was discovered by the latter sitting close, and apparently incu- 

 bating, upon what proved to be a deserted nest of the Road-runner (Geococcyx calif orni- 

 anus) . This nest had been built, well in toward the center and about two feet above the 

 ground, in a large lemonade berry (Rhus integrifolia) bush. Investigation showed the 

 nest to contain three eggs, warm to the touch, and the fragments of a fourth, all of the 

 Road-runner; two eggs were rotten, and one was cracked, discolored, with contents dried. 



Another instance of the Valley Quail occupying a nest of the Road-runner came 

 under my observation this past season (1916), and is particularly noteworthy for the fact 

 that the nest was eight and one-half feet above a dry wash. During the forepart of April 

 the nest received finishing touches and was evidently ready for the depositing of eggs, 

 when it was deserted by the Road-runners ; it had been built among the terminal branches 

 of a drooping sycamore limb, and was about five feet from, and almost on a level with, 

 the top of an abrupt bank skirting the wash at this point. In passing under the nest on 

 April 30 I was quite surprised to flush a Valley Quail from it, and to find that four eggs 



Fig. 6. Valley Quail occupying xest of Roadruxxer, 8% feet above ground 



IX A SYCAMORE. 



