476 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



FULICA, LIXN^EUS. 



Fulica, LINN.EUS, Syst. Nat. (1735). (Type Fulica atra, L.) 

 Bill shorter than the head, straight, strong, compressed, and advancing into tho 

 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. 

 (1835) 291; V. 668. Jb., Birds Am., VI (1842) 138. 

 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 eighj; 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. 



