218. PURPLE GALLINULE. _Ionornis martinicus_.

Range.--South Atlantic and Gulf States; casually north in eastern United States to Ma.s.sachusetts and Ohio.

A very handsome bird with purplish head, neck and under parts, and a greenish back. Like all the Gallinules and Coots, this species has a scaly crown plate. An abundant breeding species in the southern parts of its range. Its nests are made of rushes or gra.s.ses woven together and either attached to living rushes or placed in tufts of gra.s.s. They lay from six to ten eggs of a creamy or pale buff color sparingly blotched with chestnut. Size 1.60 1.15. Data.--Avery's Island, Louisiana, May 7, 1896. Ten eggs. Nest of dry rushes, woven to standing ones growing around an "alligator hole" in a marsh. Collector, E. A. McIlhenny.

[Ill.u.s.tration 137: Purple Gallinule. Corn Crake.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Pale buff.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: deco.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: right hand margin.]

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219. FLORIDA GALLINULE. _Gallinula galeata._

Range.--Temperate North America, from New England, Manitoba and California, southward.

A grayish colored bird of similar size to the last (13 inches long), with flanks streaked with white, and with the bill and crown plate reddish. They nest in colonies in marshes and swamps, building their nests like those of the Purple Gallinule. The eggs, too, are similar, but larger and slightly duller. Size 1.75 1.20.

Data.--Montezuma marshes, Florida, June 6, 1894. Eleven eggs. Nest of dead flaggs, floating in two feet of water. Collector, Robert Warwick.

220. EUROPEAN COOT. _Fulica atra._

A European species very similar to the next, and only casually found in Greenland. Nesting the same as our species.

221. COOT. _Fulica americana._

Range.--Whole of temperate North America, from the southern parts of the British Provinces, southward; very common in suitable localities throughout its range.

The Coot bears some resemblance to the Florida Gallinule, but is somewhat larger, its bill is white with a blackish band about the middle, and each toe has a scalloped web. They inhabit the same marshes and sloughs that are used by the Rails and Gallinules as nesting places, and they have the same retiring habits, skulking through the gra.s.s to avoid observation, rather than flying. Their nests are either floating piles of decayed vegetation, or are built of dead rushes in clumps of rushes on the banks. They generally build in large colonies. The eggs number from six to sixteen and have a grayish ground color, finely specked all over the surface with blackish. Size 1.80 1.30.

[Ill.u.s.tration 138: Pale buff.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Florida Gallinule. Coot.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Grayish.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: deco.]

[Ill.u.s.tration left hand margin.]

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Sh.o.r.e BIRDS. Order IX. LIMICOLae

PHALAROPES. Family PHALAROPODIDAE

Phalaropes are small Plover-like birds, but with lobate webbed feet, similar to those of the Grebes and Coots.

222. RED PHALAROPE. _Phalaropus fulicarius._

Range.--Northern Hemisphere, breeding in the far north, and migrating to the middle portions of the United States, chiefly on the coasts.

The Red Phalarope during the breeding season has the underparts wholly reddish brown; they are very rarely seen in the United States in this dress, however for it is early changed for a suit of plain gray and white. This species has a much stouter bill than the two following; it is about nine inches in length. All the Phalaropes are good swimmers, and this species, especially, is often found in large flocks off the coast, floating on the surface of the water; they feed largely upon small marine insects. Nests in hollows on the ground, lined with a few gra.s.ses. The eggs are three or four in number, generally of a greenish buff color, spotted and blotched with brown and blackish.

Data.--Myvates, Iceland, June 19, 1897. Collector, C. Jefferys.

223. NORTHERN PHALAROPE. _Lobipes labatus._

Range.--Northern Hemisphere, breeding in the northern parts of the British Provinces.

This is the smallest of the Phalaropes, being about eight inches long; in summer it has a chestnut band across the breast and on the side of the neck. Its habits and nesting habits vary but little from those of the Red Phalarope, although its distribution is a little more southerly, and it is not as exclusively maritime as the preceding species. It is found on both coasts of the United States, but more common on the Pacific side, during the fall and spring, when going to or returning from its winter quarters in the tropics. Their eggs cannot, with certainty, be distinguished from the preceding species.

[Ill.u.s.tration 139: Greenish buff.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Red Phalarope. Northern Phalarope.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Greenish buff.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: right hand margin.]

Page 138

224. WILSON'S PHALAROPE. _Steganopus tricolor._

Range.--Interior of temperate North America, breeding from the lat.i.tude of Iowa, northward, and wintering south of the United States.

This is the most handsome species of the family, being of a very graceful form, of a grayish and white color, with a broad stripe through the eye and down the neck, where it fades insensibly into a rich chestnut color. It is an exclusively American species and is rarely found near the coast. It builds its nest generally in a tuft of gra.s.s, the nests also being of gra.s.s. The eggs are of a brownish or greenish buff color, spotted and blotched with black and brown. Size 1.30 .90.

Data.--Larimore, N. D., May 30, 1897. Nest a shallow depression, scratched in the sand, under a tuft of gra.s.s on an island. Collector, T.

F. Eastgate.

[Ill.u.s.tration 140: Male, female, young. Wilson's Phalarope.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Brownish buff.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: deco.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: left hand margin.]

Page 139

AVOCETS and STILTS. Family RECURVIROSTRIDae

225. AVOCET. _Recurvirostra americana_.

Range.--Western North America, breeding north to Northwest Territory.

The Avocet can be known from any other bird by its up-curved bill, light plumage, webbed feet and large size (length about 17 inches). These waders are quite numerous in suitable localities throughout the west, constructing their nests in the gra.s.s, bordering marshy places. The nest is simply a lining of gra.s.s in a hollow in the ground. They lay three or four eggs of a dark greenish or brownish buff color, boldly marked with brown and black. Size 1.90 1.30. Data.--Rush Lake, a.s.siniboia. Four eggs laid in a depression in the sand, lined with dry weeds. Many birds nesting in the colony.

226. BLACK-NECKED STILT. _Himantopus mexica.n.u.s_.

Range.--Like the last, this species is rarely found east of the Mississippi, but is very abundant in the United States west of that river.