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rAuk 
Ljan. 
A Nest of the Florida Gallinule. — In 1890 and 1891 the Florida Galli- 
nule ( Gallinula galeata ) nested in the marsh at Branehport, N. Y., in large 
numbers; then several years of dry weather followed, the water receded, 
the ground was cultivated and the flags and reeds were replaced by crops 
of corn and cabbage, and in place of the Gallinules and Rails nesting in the 
reeds we had Spotted Sandpipers and Kildeers nesting among the corn rows. 
High water came again in the spring of 1901 and the flats have been 
flooded each spring since until the marsh has gradually come back to her 
own with cat-tails, rushes, swamp grass and water lilies, and Soras, Vir- 
ginia Rails and Least Bitterns are becoming more common each year. 
I am quite sure that a Florida Gallinule nested here in 1909 as I saw one 
several times in .June and a juvenile was shot here in September. Several 
times in May, 1910, when sweeping the marsh with my binoculars I saw a 
gallinule swimming about in an open space in the flags and in early June 
I flushed one from the thick flags but after a thorough search could not 
find the nest. 
June 13, C. F. Stone, E. P. St. John and myself were searching the marsh 
for nests of rail and bittern and Mr. St. John found the gallinule’s nest close 
by the place where I had flushed the gallinule. It was well hidden in a thick 
growth of sweet flag ( Acorus columns ) and bulrushes ( Scirpus lacustris) 
and was composed of dead flags woven around and supported by the last 
year’s growth of flags. It contained ten eggs which appeared to be well 
along in incubation. The female must have just left the nest as the eggs 
were warm but we neither saw nor heard her while we were there. I got 
a good picture showing the nest and eggs at this time. I visited the nest 
many times after this but could not get a glimpse of the female. 
June 26, there were but five eggs left in the nest, one with the chick ex- 
posed and struggling to free itself, but there were no other 'young ones 
visible. 
Leaving the nest for about half an hour, I visited a nest of the American 
Bittern and exposed several plates on the five young bitterns. Returning 
to the gallinule’s nest, I approached very carefully and found a downy 
young one sitting on the reeds where they had been broken down by my 
many visits. It sat there watching me, its eyes twinkling, starting up ner- 
vously now and then, and at my first move it slid into the water and dis- 
appeared so suddenly that I was almost sure that it had dived, and I 
did not see it again. The chick I had left partly in the shell about one-half 
hour before was now free and struggling to rise. After placing my camera 
and when nearly ready to make the exposure another chick appeared at 
the edge of the nest, peeped faintly and was answered by the chick in the 
nest. Then it climbed up the side and into the nest, climbing over the 
newly hatched one and I got the picture showing the older one with its 
wing (showing both digits) resting on an egg and the younger one not yet 
dry. 
I took the older one home with me and it seemed content to nestle in 
my hand or in a basket. One-half hour later I put it back into the nest 
and the younger one was not yet dry. They were both quite lively but did 
not attempt to leave the nest. 
The young are born with their eyes open. The body is covered with a 
thick down, jet black and sooty black beneath; the head and wings are 
nearly naked; base of bill bright carmine; end of bill orange yellow; a 
tuft of down under the chin white, with a sprinkling of fine black, giving 
it a silvery appearance. The eyes show purplish through the skin. The 
outer digit of the wing is armed with a hooked spur or claw about one-eighth 
of an inch long, and I noticed a young one use the wing to pull itself up the 
side of the nest. The feet and legs are dull black. 
June 28, there were but two eggs left in the nest and both were pipped. 
1 caught a youngster just as it was getting away through the flags and it 
was the only one that I could find. I put it up on some bent over flags and 
got a good picture showing it nearly three-fourths life size with the bare 
wing and claw and the white beard prominent. It is almost impossible 
to catch a glimpse of a young one in the nest after they get dry as they 
leave immediately if they hear one coming, but after I had caught and put 
them back into the nest they remained still and I had no trouble to focus 
my camera and make exposures. 
I heard the female about several times when I was at the nest but she 
did not show herself. I visited the nest several times after this date but 
saw no more of the family. — Verdi Btjrtch, Branehport, N. Y. 
Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XII, 1868, 100-104. 
