158 RALLID^!. 



The want of the white margin to the outer primary and the smaller 

 and pointed head-shield distinguish this Coot from the preceding species. 

 From F. leucoptera it may be at once known by the absence of the 

 white tips to the secondaries. 



Durnford found the Red-fronted Coot common, and breeding in the 

 lagoons north of Buenos Ayres. The nests of this bird and of F. leucoptera, 

 he tells us, are much alike, but those of the present species are perhaps 

 rather the smaller. " They are formed of reeds, and placed in clumps of 

 the same, the bottom just above the water. The eggs vary in number 

 from six to eight, and also differ a good deal in colour. Their ground- 

 colour is dark greyish brown, finely mottled and streaked with rufous 

 and darker brown, some of the spots being of a considerable size." 



381. FULICA LEUCOPTERA, Vieill. 

 (YELLOW-BILLED COOT.) 



Fulica leucoptera, Burm. La-Plata Relse, ii. p. 505 (Parana); Sol. et Salv. 

 Nomencl.-p.UO; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 488; iid. Ex. Orn. pi. Ix. p. 119; 

 Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 195 (Buenos Ayres) ; White, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 42 

 (Cordova) ; Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 277 (Carhu6, Pampas) ; Withingtmi, Ibis, 

 1888, p. 472 (Lomas de Zamora). 



Description. Dark slaty ; head and neck black ; crissum white, with a black 

 median patch ; bend of wing and outer margin of external primary, also the tips 

 of some of the secondaries, white ; bill yellow ; head-shield rounded behind ; 

 feet olivaceous : whole length 15-0 inches, wing 7*8, tail 2-0. Female similar. 



Hob. Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and Bolivia. 



This is perhaps the most abundant species of Fulica in the Plata 

 region, and certainly congregates in the largest numbers. The colour 

 of the beak and shield is of a very delicate yellow; the legs and feet 

 dull green ; the head, neck, and part of the back velvet-black ; all the 

 rest of the plumage dark slate-colour, except the under coverts of the 

 tail, which are white, and render the bird very conspicuous when it is 

 swimming away with the tail raised vertically. 



On the pampas, in large marshy lagoons, this Coot is sometimes seen in 

 immense numbers ; thousands of birds uniting in one flock, and spreading 

 over the low shores to feed, they look like a great concourse of Rooks. 

 But they are exceedingly timid, and at the sight of a bird of prey or 

 other enemy they all scuttle back to the water, tumbling over each 

 other in their haste to reach it. They rise in a peculiar manner, rapidly 

 striking the surface of the water with their great lobed feet, often for a 

 distance of twenty or thirty yards before they are fully launched 

 in the air. They are loquacious birds, and when swimming about 



