288 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



When in our waters the coots are usually silent birds, but sometimes utter 

 a low kluck, and when gathered in numbers they engage m a confused gab- 

 bling and clattering. 



The Coot's nest is a mass of flags and dead vegetation, but resembles 

 the grebe's more than the gallinule's in location, being built up in the 

 shallow water in a slight opening among the flags. The eggs are from 8 to 

 1 6 in number, of a buffy white, minutely and uniformly dotted with blackish 

 brown and obscure tints, sometimes in larger blotches; average size 1.9 

 X 1.32 inches. 



This is the Mud hen, Meadow hen. Water hen. Crow bill, Hen bill, 

 Crow duck. Blue peter or White-billed mud hen of the gunners. Its flesh, 

 though palatable, is inferior to that of the Sora and our better ducks. 



Order LIMICOLAE 



Plover, Snipe etc. 



Order Charadriiformes, Sharpe's Hand-List 



Small, or medium sized; bill with a soft skin covering more or less of 

 the basal portion, grooved from the base to the hardened terminal portion ; 

 nostrils open slits in the m.embraneous basal portions; legs normally long 

 and slender, and scutellate, at least in front; tibia usually bare for some 

 distance; front toes, at least the middle and outer, usually connected at 

 the base with a small web; hind toe smaller and elevated, or wanting; 

 claws small, sharp and slightly curved ; wings normally long, flat and pointed, 

 the outer primaries longest, the inner secondaries elongated, giving the 

 extended wing a V-shaped appearance; tail rather short, stiff, broad and 

 rounded. Cervical vertebrae 15, cervico-dorsals 2, dorsals 5 to 6; palate 

 schizognathous ; nasals schizorhinal. 



Most members of this order prefer the shore, mud flats, or open 

 marshes, and feed on mollusks, crustaceans and insects in the mud or along 

 the moist strand. They nest upon the ground. The eggs are usually 

 four in number, well spotted or blotched with dark colors, which renders 

 them quite inconspicuous among the grass or pebbles. The young are 

 precocious and covered with a soft gray or buffy down marked with blackish, 

 and lie quite flat and still when approached, to escape being seen by their 

 enemies. Many of the species are gregarious in habit and perform extensive 



