American Coot (Fulica americana)

[DryobatesScalaris]

And here i make bold to avow my conviction that the pairing season is not the only point of interest in the life if birds; nor is the instinct by which they mate altogether and beyond comparison the noblest passion that stir their feathered breast.

Their finest qualities come out in the patient care that protect the young in the nest, in the varied struggles for existence through the changing year, and in the incredible heroism of the annual migration.

The Courtship.