RALLID^ — THE COOTS — FULICA. 393 



acters, translated from Messrs. Sclateb & Salvin's " Clavis specierum" (P. Z. S. 1868, p. 462), are 

 as follows : — 



a'. Crissum -black centrally, mixed witli white laterally. 



Large : Bend of the wing l.lack p rjigantea. 



Small : Bend of the wing white ]r anlesiaca. 



h' . Crissnm wholly white. 



a" . Secondaries concolored. 



Margin of the wing white . . F. armillata. 



Margin of the wing concolored jr^ Uucopyga. 



b". Secondaries tipped with white. 



Large : Bill yellow p. hucoptera. 



Small : Bill spotted with red p, americana. 



F. americoMa. 



The two species occurring (one of them accidentally) in Xorth America differ in the following 

 characters : — 



1 . F. americana. Lateral and posterior feathers of crissum, edge of wing, and tips of secondaries 



v.-liite ; bill with a dark-brownish spot near end of each mandible, the frontal shield 

 dark brown. Wing, 7.25-7.60 ; tarsus, 2.00-2.20 ; middle toe, 2.45-2.65. Hah. Whole 

 of North and Middle America, and West Indies. 



2. F. atra. Only the edge of the wing and very narrow edge to outer primary white ; bill without 



dark spots near end, and frontal shield not conspicuously different in color from the bill. 

 Wing, 7.70-8.80 ; tarsus, 2. 25-2. .35 ; middle toe, 2.85-3.15. Hah. Palaearctic Region ; 

 accidental in Greenland. 



Fuiica americana. 



THE AMERICAN COOT. 



Fuiica americana, Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 17S8, 704. — Sw. & Eich. F. B. A. II. 1831, 404. — Xutt. Man. 



IL 1834, 229. — Atjd. Orn. Biog. III. 1835, 291 : V. 1839, 568; Syiiop. 1839, 212 ; B. Am. Y. 



1842, 138, pi. 305. — C.\ss. in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 751. — Baird, Cat. X. Am. B. 1859, no. 



559. — COUE.S, Key, 1872, 275 ; Check List, 1873, no. 474 ; 2d ed, 1882, no. 686 ; Birds N. W. 



1874, 541. — RiDGW\ Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 580. 

 Fuiica Wilsoni, Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool. XII. 1824, 236. 

 Fuiica atra, Wils. Am. Orn. IX. 1825, 61, pi. 73, fig. 1 (nee Ll.xx.). 

 VOL. I. — 50 



