The Coot in the Vicinity of Staten Island 1 



By James Chapin 



In spite of its reputation for abundance, the coot, Fulica amer- 

 icana, seems to be found only as a rather unusual fall migrant on 

 Staten Island, where I know of but four records of its occur- 

 rence during the past few years. The first of these was killed 

 by Mr. G. Chauncey Parsons, at Clove Lake, October 22, 1904, 

 but only its feet were saved for identification. 



On October 15, 1905, Mr. Wm. T. Davis, Mr. Alanson Skinner, 

 and the writer discovered a coot in a small pond at Green Ridge, 

 Staten Island; but it refused to leave the pond, even though 

 forced several times to take wing, and preferred to hide in the 

 grass that fringed the shore. In rising from the water it always 

 pattered along for a considerable distance with its feet. 



The seclusive habits of this bird resemble those of other coots 

 seen in the marshes near Newark, N. J., in June and July, 1907, 

 by Mr. W. D. W. Miller and myself. There several pairs of 

 coots were breeding, with the famous colony of Florida gallinules, 

 Gallinula galeata, and an excellent opportunity was thus afforded 

 for a comparison of the habits of coots and gallinules. The coots 

 seemed slightly fonder of open water; but on the least alarm 

 they would scuttle into the cattails, where it was useless to follow 

 them. While swimming they could be distinguished at once from 

 the gallinules by their shape. A gallinule would carry its tail 

 high out of water, while the upper part of its back was almost 

 submerged, but a coot would sit much more horizontally in the 

 water. In addition to this, the red bills of adult gallinules, and 

 the white bills of adult coots were visible at a considerable 

 distance. 



The two most recent examples of the coot taken on Staten 



1 Presented March 21, 1908. 



