Their nests are woven of strips of rushes or grasses, and are well "cupped" to receive the eggs. They are on the ground on the border of, or in, marshy places. Mr. Childs has a fine set of eight eggs, taken by Arthur T. Wayne, at Mt. Pleasant, S. C., June 10, 1903. The nest was located in an oat field. The eggs have a creamy white ground, and are specked all over with reddish brown. Size 1.03 × .75. 216.1. FARALLON RAIL. _Creciscus coturniculus._ Known only from a single specimen, which is slightly smaller than _jamaicensis_ and without the white specks on the back. [Illustration 136: Rich buff.] [Illustration: Yellow Rail. Black Rail.] [Illustration] [Illustration: deco.] [Illustration: left margin.] Page 135 217. Corn Crake. _Crex crex._ This European Rail is casually found in Greenland and along the Atlantic coast of North America. It is the most abundant of European Rails and is found breeding in marshes, meadows and along streams. 218. PURPLE GALLINULE. _Ionornis martinicus_. Range.--South Atlantic and Gulf States; casually north in eastern United States to Massachusetts 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 grasses woven together and either attached to living rushes or placed in tufts of grass. 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. [Illustration 137: Purple Gallinule. Corn Crake.] [Illustration: Pale buff.] [Illustration: deco.] [Illustration: right hand margin.] Page 136 219. 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.