1893
May 18
(No 12)
East Lexington, Mass.
I have ever seen. When it was feeding near shore we
walked down to the water's edge and sat down on a
rock within less than 40 ft. of it without apparently causing
it any alarm. It scarcely noticed a train which thundered
past on the railroad that skirts the pond and when
we shouted and clapped our hands it merely looked at
us with mild curiosity. It has probably become accustomed
to sights & sounds of man for there is much passing
about the shores of this pond and several houses near by.
When swimming this bird moved quite as rapidly as
a Coot and nodded the head & neck in precisely the
same manner. It was silent during the half hour or
more that we sat on the rock watching it but this
morning we heard it give the long cue-cue outcry,
the hen-like crooning, and the frog note. The last
was answered by [delete] the [/delete] its mate on one occasion.
[margin]Florida Gallinule[/margin]

The female appeared to be the shyer, or at least
more retiring, of the pair. We saw her only once
distinctly when she ventured out into open water
a little distance and then swam along the edge
of the bushes for several rods. Her frontal plate was
much smaller and its coloring as well as the
coloring of the [?] much duller than in the male.
The [?] had the terminal third of the [?] yellow,
the remainder of the [?] uniform with the frontal
space and deep, glowing scarlet(?). When the bird
was standing on a branch we saw the red on the legs
just above the middle joints.
