140 



RAILS, GALLIXULES, AND COOTS. 



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for unknown reasons have been forced to adopt the ways of both Coots 

 and Kails. Indeed, now I think of it, the names Water-hen and !Moor- 

 hen are applied to near relatives of our bird. 



They fretpient marshy, reed- or bush-grown shores of ponds and 

 lakes, walking gracefully through the tangled vegetation. Th.'ir flight 

 is short and, like a Rail, with dangling legs they drop awkwardly to the 

 ground. They swim readily, and when on the water resemble a Coot, 

 though they are by no means so acjuatic. Their notes are loud and 

 varied, and during the nesting season they are unusually noisy. Their 

 c'Mnmon note is a loud, exi)losive chuck ; other calls are suggestive of 

 the barnyard, and remind one of the protest of a disturbed brooding 

 hen or even the squawking of a struggling fowl. In The Auk, vol. 

 viii, pages 1-7, ^Ir. Brewster gives a detailed account of his study of a 

 pair of Gallinules. 



281> Tulica amerlcaiut Gmel. American Coot; Mid-iikn; Ckow 

 Dl'ok; Blue rETEU. (See Fig. '22, c.) Ad. — lleuil and neck blackish; rest of 

 the plumage dark, bluish slato-color, paler below ; edtre of the wing, ti2)s of 

 the sccom/arieii, and uiulcr tail-coverts wliite; bill whitisli, two s])ots near its 

 tip ami crown i)latc brownish ; lci,'s and feet greenish ; toes with Kcalhiped 

 flapii. Ini. — Similar, but much whiter below, a slight brownish wash above; 

 erosvn plate much smaller. Downy yoiiiuj. — lUaekisli, white below ; throat luid 

 upper parts with lumierous hr\\i\\\. oraiuje liairlikc feathers; lores red ; bill red, 

 tipi)e(l with black. L., 1500; \V., VoO; Tar., ti-iS ; li. from posterior margin 

 of nostril, -SO. 



Ii'tmarh. — Tlie Coot bears a geuprnl resemb:.i,ice to the Florida (Jallinule, 

 but, aside from the ditfcrcuccs in color, the scalloped webbed feet of the Coot 

 will always serve to distinguish them. 



liatuje. — North America as far north as Alaska and New Rruuswick, and 

 casually Greenland ; breeds locally throughout its range; rather rare on the 

 Atlantic coast during the nesting season. 



Washington, common T. V., Mch, to May ; Sejit. to Oct. 15. Long Is\md, 

 uncommon T. V., \\A. ; not uncouuuon, Sept. to Nov. Sing Sing, common 

 T. v., Apl. 28 to May K? ; Sejit. 22 to Nov. 13. Cambridge, T. V., rare in 

 Apl. ; conuuon Sept. to Nov. 



Xi'd, of reeds, grasses, etc.. among reods in fresli-wnter marshes. A)/f/«, 

 eight to liftcen, pale, butl'y white, iiuely and uniformly speckled with choco- 

 late or black, 1'85 x 1-2.'). 



As one might imagine after seeing their lohed feet. Coots are more 

 aquatic than either of the (Tallinules. In the Miildle States they are 

 fouiul in creeks and rivers with nnirshy ami reed-grown shores, while 

 in Florida they resort in enormous numbers to lakes covered with the 

 yellow lilies locally known as ** bonruHs" (iV"(//;/inir) ; and in some of 

 the large, shallow rivers, like Indian River, they may be found in 

 myriads, associated with Lesser Scaui> Ducks. 



In my exi)erienco they are as a rule qtiite shy ; but near the long 



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