CINEREOUS COOT. 127 



In Lewis and Clark's history of their expedition, 

 mention is made of a bird which is common on the 

 Columbia; is said to be very noisy, to have a sharp, 

 shrill whistle, and to associate in large flocks ; it is called 

 the black duck.* This is doubtless a species of coot, 

 but whether or not different from ours cannot be 

 ascertained. How much is it to be regretted, that, in 

 an expedition of discovery, planned and fitted out 

 by an enlightened government, furnished with every 

 means for safety, subsistence, and research, not one 

 naturalist, not one draftsman, should have been sent, to 

 observe and perpetuate the infinite variety of natural 

 productions, many of which are entirely unknown to 

 the community of science, which that extensive tour 

 must have revealed ! 



The coot leaves us in November for the southward. 



The foregoing was prepared for the press, when the 

 author, in one of his shooting excursions on the Dela- 

 ware, had the good fortune to kill a full plumaged 

 female coot. This was on the 2Dth of April. It was 

 swimming at the edge of a cripple, or thicket of alder 

 bushes, busily engaged in picking something from the 

 surface of the water, and, while thus employed, it turned 

 frequently. The membrane on its forehead was very 

 small, and edged on the fore part with gamboge. Its 

 eggs were of the size of partridge shot. And on the 

 13th of May, another fine female specimen was presented 

 to him, which agreed with the above, with the exception 

 of the membrane on the forehead being nearly as large 

 and prominent as that of the male. From the circum- 

 stance of the eggs of all these birds being very small, it 

 is probable that the coots do not breed until July. 



* History of the Expedition, vol. ii, p. 194. Under date of 

 November 30th, 1805, they say : " The hunters brought in a few 

 black ducks of a species common in the United States, living in 

 large flocks, and feeding on grass : they are distinguished by a sharp 

 white beak, toes separated, and by having no craw." 



