144 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
LXXX. FULICA Linnaéus. 1758. 
220. European Coot. 
Fulica atra LINN. 1758. 
Accidental in Greenland. (A. O. U. Liszt.) Collectedin South 
Greenland, and now in the Copenhagen Museum. (Winge.) 
221. American Coot. Mud-hen. 
Fulica americana GMEL. 1788. 
Twice obtained in Greenland in the same year (1854) ; once at 
Godthaab and once at Disco Bay. (Arct. Man.) One shot on 
a lake near Nain, Labrador, several years ago. (Packard.) Not 
very common in the autumnin NovaScotia. (Dowmns.) A summer 
visitant, increasing in numbers in New Brunswick. (Chamberlain. ) 
Breeding in the valley of the St. Lawrence and western Quebec 
and throughout Ontario, and westward to the Pacific coast and 
Vancouver Island. The writer found it scattered throughout 
the prairie region, generally in large flocks, but often only a 
few pairs, or one pair, in small ponds. The chief breeding- 
grounds are in Manitoba and northwestward. It was breed- 
-ing in Vermilion Lakes at Banff, Rocky Mountains, May 
Iith, 1891. Richardson says its northern limit is Lat. 53°, and 
Bernard Ross puts its limit at Fort Simpson, on the Mac- 
kenzie, in Lat. 62° 30’. Although quite common in British 
Columbia, only one specimen is recorded by Nelson as taken in 
Alaska. 
BREEDING Notes.—The Coot builds on a mass of old reeds. 
The nest is composed of small pieces of reeds and marsh 
grass, with no particular lining. The eggs, six or more in 
number, are of a clear clay colour, dotted all over with specks 
of dark brown. As the old bird has a habit of covering the nest 
over whenever she leaves, it is very hard to find. Breeds in the 
marshes around Ottawa, Ont. (G. R. White.) Breeds inthe same 
localities with the Florida Gallinule, and constructs its nest in the 
same manner. (IW. Saunders.) Nests in reeds and grass growing 
in the water along the margins of lakes and ponds. The nest is 
composed of reeds and grass, and rather small and shallow. The 
young leave the nest assoonasthey are hatched. Found breed- 
