Gallinula galeata
Order Gruiformes
Family Rallidae
Other names: Florida Gallinule
Adult.— Head and neck blackish; rest of body slate-gray, washed on the back with brown and on the belly with white; under tail-coverts white; bill and forehead bright red, the former tipped with greenish-yellow.
Immature.— Similar, but under parts suffused with white; bill and forehead brownish.
Nest, of cat-tail flags, floating on the water or on a bed of flags.
Eggs, buff or buffy-brown, sparsely spotted with brown.
The Florida Gallinule is a rare summer resident of southern New England and the Hudson Valley, arriving in May, and staying till October. It inhabits the reed-bordered shores of lakes or ponds, either swimming like a duck or walking in the shallows like a rail. Its notes are very hen-like.
It may be known by its red, yellow-tipped bill and a plate of bright red on the front of its head.
Its tail is constantly cocked, and shows a patch of white beneath it. (See Brewster, “Auk,” vol. viii. pp. 1-7, for a full account of the habits and notes of the Florida Gallinule.)
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)