CINEREOUS COOT. 125 



gallinule (gallinula chloropus ;) but there is not, per- 

 haps, one of the latter, for twenty of the former. 



The cinereous coot is sixteen inches in length, and 

 twenty-eight in extent ; bill, one and a half inch long, 

 white, the upper mandible slightly notched near the 

 tip, and marked across with a band of chestnut, the 

 lower mandible marked on each side with a squarish spot 

 of the like colour, edged on the lower part with bright 

 yellow or gamboge, thence to the tip, pale horn colour ; 

 membrane of the forehead, dark chestnut brown ; 

 irides, cornelian red ; beneath the eyes, in most speci- 

 mens, a whitish spot ; the head and neck are of a dep 

 shining black, resembling satin; back and scapulars, 

 dirty greenish olive ; shoulders, breast, and wing- 

 coverts, slate blue ; the under parts are hoary ; vent, 

 black ; beneath the tail, pure white ; primaries and 

 secondaries, slate, the former tipt with black, the latter 

 with white, which does not appear when the wing is 

 closed ; outer edges of the wings, white ; legs and 

 toes, yellowish green, the scalloped membrane of the 

 latter, lead colour ; middle toe, including the claw, three 

 inches and three quarters long. 



The bird from which the foregoing description was 

 taken, was shot in the Delaware, below Philadelphia, 

 the 29th of October, 1813. It was an old male, an 

 uncommonly fine specimen, and weighed twenty-three 

 ounces avoirdupois. It is deposited in Peale's Museum. 



The young birds differ somewhat in their plumage, 

 that of the head and neck being of a brownish black ; 

 that of the breast and shoulders, pale ash ; the throat, 

 gray or mottled ; the bill, bluish white ; and the mem- 

 brane on the forehead, considerably smaller. 



The young females very much resemble the young 

 males ; all the difference which I have been enabled 

 to perceive, is as follows : breast and shoulders, 

 cinereous; markings on the bill, less; upper parts of 

 the head, in some specimens, mottled ; and being less 

 in size. 



The lower parts of these birds are clothed with a 

 thick down, and, particularly between the thighs, 



