JAN., 1909. BIRDS OF ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN CORY. 387 



Florida Gallinule. 



This species is a common summer resident in Illinois and the 

 greater part of Wisconsin, and breeds in both states. The majority 

 of them arrive early in May and the eggs are laid in June. The nest 

 is a mass of reeds and weeds in a swamp or marsh. The eggs are 8 to 

 12 in number, buff white, spotted and speckled with brown, and meas- 

 ure i. 80 x 1.25 inches. The Field Museum possesses a set of n eggs 

 taken June 6, 1903, at Fox Lake, 111., and another set taken in a marsh 

 near Chicago, May 30, 1888. 



Subfamily FULICIN^. Coots. 



Genus FULICA Linn. 

 101. Fulica americana GMEL. 



AMERICAN COOT. 



* 



Distr.: North America, from Greenland and Alaska south to the 

 West Indies and Veragua, in winter. 



Adult: General plumage, dark slate color; head and neck, black- 

 ish; bill, whitish, marked with reddish black on the upper mandible; 

 frontal plate, brownish white; legs and feet, dark olive, the toes having 

 peculiar semicircular flaps or webs; abdomen, grayish; edge of wing 

 and ends of secondaries, white. 



