ItALLlD.E — THE COOTS — FULICA. 



393 



acters, translated from Messrs. Sclater & Salvin's " Clavis specierum " (P. Z. S. 18G8, ]i. 4(i2), are 

 as follows : — 



a'. Crissum black centrally, iiuxcmI witli wliiti- laterally. 



Large : Bend of the wing black F. giijantea. 



Small : Bend of the wing white F. anlesiaca. 



b'. Crissum wholly white. 



a". Secondaries concolorod. 



Margin of the wing white /''. armiUata. 



Margin of the wiiig concolored F. Uucopyija. 



b". Secondaries tipped with white. 



Large : Bill yellow F. Icucoptera. 



Smidl : Bill sijotted with red F. amcrkana. 



sf. americaTM. 



The two species occuning (one of them accideutall)-) in North America differ in the following 

 characters : — 



1. F. 



2. F. 



americana. Lateral and posterior feathers of crissum, edge of wing, and tips of secondaries 

 v.liite ; bill with a dark-lirownish spot near end of each maudilile, tlie frontal shield 

 dark brown. Wing, 7.2.5-7.60 ; tarsus, 2.()()-2.2() ; middle toe, 2.45-2.65. Hah. Whole 

 of North and Middle America, and West Indies. 



atra. Only the edge of the wing and very narrow edge to outer primary white ; bill without 

 dark spots near end, and frontal shield not conspicuously different in color from the bill. 

 Wing:, 7.70-8.80; tarsus. 2.25-2. ;5.") ; middle toe, 2.8.5-3.15. Hab. Pala;arctic Region; 

 accidental in Greenland. 



Fulica americana. 



THE AMEBICAN COOT. 



Fulica amcricarui, Gjiel. S. N. 1. ii. 1788, 704. — Sw. & Rich. F. P.. A. 11. 1831, 404. — Nutt. Man. 



II. 1834, 229. — AuD. Om. Biog. III. 1835, 291 ; V. 1839, 568 : Syiiop. 1839, 212 ; B. Am. V. 



1842, 138, pi. 305. — Ca.ss. in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 751. — Baird, Cat. \. Am. B. 1859, no. 



559. — CoTJES, Key, 1872, 275 ; Check List, 1873, no. 474 ; 2d ed, 1882, no. 686 ; Birds N. AV. 



1874, 541. — RiDGW. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 580. 

 Fulica WiUmii, Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool. XII. 1824, 236. 

 Fulica atra, "Wjls. Am. Orn. IX. 1S25, 61, pi. 73, fig. 1 (nee LiSN.). 

 VOL. I. — 50 



