Part 17

Nest.—A rude structure of grass in the rushes; 6 to 16 eggs, buff colored with reddish-brown specks (1.25 × .90).

YELLOW RAIL. 215. Coturnicops noveboracensis. 7 inches.

This is a very handsome species, with plumage of glossy brown, yellowish buff; black and white barred side feathers. The back is blackish with the feathers edged with white. These small Rails are like field mice, hard to locate or obtain sight of when in the marsh grass. They object to flying unless forced to do so, and trust to their small size and their agility to get through rushes to avoid being seen.

Nest.—Is placed on the ground and made of grass woven and twisted together; the six to twelve eggs are rich buff color, specked with reddish brown in a wreath about the larger end (1.10 × .80).

Range.—Locally distributed in temperate America from southern California to British Columbia.

BLACK RAIL. 216. Creciscus coturniculus. 5 inches.

This is the smallest of the Rails. A dark slaty colored bird, with back a dark brown thickly spotted with white, gray feathers on the sides and flank spotted and barred with white.

Nest.—These are woven of strips of rushes and grass, nicely cupped to hold the eggs, which number from six to twelve; creamy white, specked all over with reddish brown (1.03 × .75).

FLORIDA GALLINULE. 219. Gallinula galeata. 13 inches.

Plumage gray, changing to blackish about the head; the back a brownish color. Bill and frontal plate bright red, the former being tipped with yellow, legs greenish with a red ring about the top. The grayish side feathers tipped with white at the wing and lower ones with black. They have an almost endless variety of notes; all of them harsh and explosive.

Nest.—They build in colonies in the marshes, making their nests of rushes and grasses woven together and attached to stalks of rushes quite often over the water. They lay from six to ten eggs of a creamy buff color (1.60 × 1.15).

AMERICAN COOT. 221. Fulica americana. 15 inches.

Head and neck nearly black, shading into a gray over the whole bird. Toes lobed and scalloped along the edge; bill white with a blackish band near the tip; shield narrow and brownish, ending in a point.

Nest.—This is placed in the same localities as are the Rails, and they have the same retiring habits. Six to fifteen eggs of a grayish color finely specked all over with black or brown (1.80 × 1.30).

RED PHALAROPE.—Family Phalaropodidæ. 222. Phalaropus fulicarius. 8 inches.

These birds are very rarely seen in the United States in their breeding plumage; when they come in the fall nearly all have changed to their winter dress, and they retain this until after they leave us in the spring. In summer the under parts and neck a reddish brown; sides of the head white; top of head blackish; wings bluish gray crossed by a white band. The female is the larger and brighter plumaged bird.

Nest.—A hollow in the ground, lined with a few grasses. Three or four eggs greenish buff color, spotted and blotched with brown or black (1.20 × .80).

Range.—Northern hemisphere, breeding in the far north, and in winter migrating to middle portions of United States on both coasts.

NORTHERN PHALAROPE. 223. Lobipes lobatus. 8 inches.

This is a maritime species that nests in the far north, and appears on the coasts a short time during migration. Like the last they are expert swimmers, and pass most of their time when not breeding upon the surface of the water. They feed upon minute insects secured from beds of floating kelp. Nest and eggs similar to above.

WILSON PHALAROPE. 224. Steganopus tricolor. 9 inches.

This is the most handsome species of the family, being of a very graceful form, of a grayish and white color, with a broad black stripe through the eye and down the side of the neck, where it changes gradually into a rich chestnut color. Bill is long and slender. It is a bird of the interior, and is only rarely met with on the coasts. It does not congregate in large flocks, as the two preceding, and is not as often seen upon the water, although a good swimmer.

Nest.—Made of grasses on the ground, usually concealed in a tuft of grass near the border of a marsh or pond. Three or four greenish-buff eggs with black markings (1.30 × .90).

Range.—Interior of North America, breeding from Canada to southern California and inland to Colorado and Dakota.

WILSON SNIPE. 230. Gallinago delicata. 11 inches.

This species to a great extent frequents the open marshy meadows with its winding brooks. They procure their food by boring in the muddy banks of the meadows, the tip of the bill being flexible.

Nest.—On grassy edge of ponds or marshes; 4 eggs (1.50 × 1.10).

AVOCET—Family Recurvirostridæ. 225. Recurvirostra americana. 17 inches.