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476 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
FULICA, Linnzvs. 
Fuhca, Linn mus, Syst. Nat. (1785). (Type Fulica atra, L.) 
Bill shorter than the head, straight, strong, compressed, and advancing into the 
feathers of the forehead, where it frequently forms a wide and somewhat projecting 
frontal plate; nostrils in a groove, with a large membrane near the middle of the 
bill; wings rather short, second and third quills usually longest; tail very short; 
tarsus robust, shorter than the middle toe, with very distinct transverse scales; toes 
long, each toe having semicircular lobes, larger on the inner side of the toe; hind 
toe rather long, lobed. 
FULICA AMERICANA. — Gmelin. 
The Coot; Poule d’eau; Mud-hen. 
Fulica Americana, Gmelin. Syst. Nat., I. (1788) 704. Aud. Orn. Biog., III. 
(1835) 291; V. 568. Jd., Birds Am., VI. (1842) 188. 
Fulica atra, Wilson. Am. Orn., IX. (1825) 61. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Head and neck glossy-black, with a tinge of ashy; under tail coverts white; 
entire other plumage dark bluish-cinereous or slate-color, with a tinge of olive on 
the back and darker on the rump; edge of wing at shoulder and edge of first pri- 
mary white; secondary quills tipped with white; rump frequently tinged with 
brownish; bill very pale-yellow or nearly white, with a transverse band of brown- 
ish-black near the end; tip white; legs dull grayish-green. Female similar, but 
with the tints lighter. Young like the adult, but with the under parts lighter; 
abdomen frequently ashy-white; back and rump dark olive-brown; head and neck 
lighter; iris reddish-hazel. 
Total length, about fourteen inches; wing, seven; tail, two inches. 
This species probably breeds in all the New-England 
States, but not abundantly. It prefers the neighborhood of 
some small muddy pond for its habitation; and its nest is 
usually built in an almost inaccessible bog. Of the charac- 
ter of the nest, I am ignorant, but judge that it resembles 
that of the other members of this family. . 
The eggs are from eight to twelve in number. Their 
form is an elongated ovoid. Their color is a pale yellowish- 
buff, or dirty-cream tint; and they are marked with fine dots 
and spots of dark-umber and obscure fine dots of lilac. 
In all the specimens that I have examined, these dots are 
pretty thickly distributed or sprinkled, but are in no case 
confluent into blotches. Their dimensions vary from 2.10 
by 1.35 to 2 by 1.28 inch. 
