192 GRALLATORES. FULICA. 



GENUS FULICA, LINN. COOT. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill shorter than the head, strong, strait, subconic, com- 

 pressed, much higher than broad. Upper mandible slightly 

 arched ; the culmen dilated into a broad shield-like plate up- 

 on the forehead ; mandibular furrow broad, and occupying 

 two-thirds of its length. Mandibles of equal length; the 

 angle of the lower one ascending. 



Nostrils concave, pierced in the membrane of the mandi- 

 bular furrow near the middle of the bill, pervious, linear, 

 oblong. 



Wings tuberculated ; with the second and third quill fea- 

 thers the longest. Tail short. Body laterally compressed. 



Legs of mean length and strength ; naked for a short 

 space above the tar sal joint. Feet four-toed, three before 

 and one behind ; toes long, united at their base, and loba- 

 ted ; the middle toe with three, the inner one with two, and 

 the outer with four, distinct rounded membranes. Middle 

 toe longer than the tarsus. Front of tarsus, upper part of 

 the toes, and the membranes scutellated. Hind toe as long 

 as the first joint of the middle one, and resting for half its 

 length upon the ground. Claws falcate, acute. Plumage 

 thick, soft, and open in texture. 



In the present arrangement the Coots are placed in that 

 station to which their real affinities (as indicated by their 

 anatomy and habits), so plainly point, viz. at the extremity 

 of the Rallidce, and leading the way, by their lobated feet 

 and aquatic character, to the true swimming birds, in the 

 succeeding order of Natatores. From the Gallinules they 

 are chiefly separated by the greater development of the 

 membrane bordering the toes, which, instead of being nar- 

 row and entire as in that genus, becomes large and rounded 



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