BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 109 
been constructed of different materials, and placed on floating 
debris. The newly hatched young resemble black chickens in 
their appearance and notes. In their habits they resemble the 
Rails. 
Langille, in his work, ‘‘Our Birds and their Haunts,” page 
408, says of the young of this Gallinule:—‘‘These birds which 
swim, dive, or run upon the lilly-pads with equal ease, are to 
be associated with still waters, and with that queen of our 
ponds and lakes, the sweet-scented water-nymph. No infant 
of a royal household ever sported under a more beautiful can- 
opy than is found by these Gallinule chicks beneath the snowy 
wreath of odorous petals and central crown of gold, standing 
like an elegant sunshade in that quiet nook, which mirrors the 
bluff and the surrounding landscape.” % 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Frontal plate large, obovate, terminating square on top 
of the head; bill shorter than head, rather thick, compressed; 
wing rather long; tail short; legs moderate; toes and claws 
long and robust; head, neck, and entire under parts dark- 
bluish cinerous, frequently nearly black on the head and neck, 
and generally lighter on the abdomen; a few feathers on the 
flanks widely edged with white; shorter under tail coverts 
black, longer ones white; upper parts brownish-olive, darker 
on the rump; quills dark brown; tail brownish-black; frontal 
plate and bill, bright red, tipped with yellow; tibia with a 
bright red space on the bare portion next to the feathers; 
lower portion of the tibia, tarsus and toes yellowish-green. 
Length, 12.50; wing, 6.75; tail, 3; bill, 1.25; tarsus, 1.75-2. 
Habitat, temperate and tropical America. 
FULICA AMERICANA GMELIN. (221.) 
AMERICAN COOT. 
A most abundant and universally distributed species, reach- 
ing us but little if any later in spring than the Mallards, 
breeding in extensive communities on inaccessible bogs, with 
nests of half rotted reeds loosely built, in which they lay ten 
or a dozen dirty-cream eggs, speckled and spotted with dark- 
umber. This is the terse record of the Coot or Mud Hen, in 
Minnesota. 
From the lowa line to the British possessions, the testimony 
of observers is the same, that they are ‘‘abundant every- 
where.” Mr. Washburn’s report of the ornithology of Otter 
Tail county speaks of their presence in great numbers on a 
little lake near Dead lake as late as the 26th of October (1885), 
