294 AMERICAN COOT. 



the outer part of the net, when they drop into the water like so many 

 terapins. At times they congregate in vast numbers, and swim so closely 

 that a hunter in my employ, while on Lake Barataria, killed eighty at a 

 single shot. They are extremely abundant in the New Orleans' markets 

 during the latter part of autumn and in winter, when the negroes and the 

 poorer classes purchase them to make " gombo." In preparing them for 

 cooking, they skin them like rabbits instead of plucking them. 



Both old and young birds differ considerably in size and weight. The 

 male, from which I drew the figure in the plate, was procured at General 

 Hernandez's, in East Florida, and was among the best of about thirty 

 shot on one of my excursions there. 



FuLiCA AMERICANA, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 779 — Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of 



Birds of the United States, p. 338. 

 Common Coot, Fulica atra, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. ix. p. 61. pi. 73. fig. 1. 

 Cinereous Coot, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 229. 



Adult Male. Plate CC XXXIX. 



Bill about the same length as the head, stout, straight, compressed, 

 higher than broad at the base. Upper mandible with the dorsal line 

 straight and slightly sloping, towards the end slightly arched and deflected, 

 the ridge flattish at the base, and continuous with an oblong soft tumid 

 plate which ascends on the forehead, the rest of the ridge convex ; sides 

 rapidly slopping, edges overlapping, sharp, with a slight notch close to 

 the obtuse tip. Nasal groove wide, extending to two-thirds of the whole 

 length of the mandible, filled with a soft bare membrane ; nostrils linear, 

 medial, lateral, direct, pervious. Lower mandible with the angle long, 

 narrow, rounded, the dorsal line nearly straight, the sides flattish, the 

 edges sharp. 



Head small, oblong, much compressed. Neck of moderate length, 

 slender. Body rather full, compressed. Feet of moderate length, strong ; 

 tibia bare a short way above the joint ; tarsus rather short, compressed, 

 broader below, anteriorly covered with broad scutella, laterally with an- 

 gular scales, on the outer side behind a row of scutelliform scales ; hind 

 toe short, slender ; middle toe longest, fourth longer than second ; toes 

 scutellate above, hind one with an inferior lobe, second Avith two larger 

 inner and two smaller ouler rounded lobes ; third with three, fourth with 



