COOT. 516 



Svi)-fcmiiAf Ftjlicin^. Coots. 



Body rathei depianed, plniaage compact, tarsns shorter than middle toe. All toes 

 lobate, faniiBhed with membranonB flaps. Aquatic. 



Gkhtjs PULICA. Linnaans. 

 Characters of the sab-family. 



FuLICA AMERICANA Gm. 



Coot. 



FvMca amerieana, Wheaton, Ohio Agric. Kep. for 1860, 369 ; Reprint, 1861, 11 ; Pood of 

 Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Kep. for 1874, 573 ; Reprint, 187.5, 13. — Lanodon, Cat. Birds 

 of Cin., 1877, 16 ; Revised List, Jonrn. Gin. Soe. Nat. Hist., i, 187S, 184 ; Reprint, 18 ; 

 Summer Birds, ib., iii, 1880, 228. 



IWea amerioana, Gmblik, Syet. Nat., i, 1788, 704. 



Dark slate, paler or grayish below, blackening on the head and neck, tinged with 

 olive on the back ; criasum, whole edge of wing, and top of the secondaries white ; bill 

 white or flesh- colored, marked with reddish-black near the end ; feet dull olivaceous ; 

 young similar, paler and duller. Length, about 14; wing, 7-8; tail, 2; bill from the 

 gape, Ijrli^; tarsns, about 2; middle toe and claw, abont 3. 



Habitat, Temperate North America. Alaska. Greenland. Mexico. West Indies. 

 Central America. 



Abundant spring and fall migrant in all parts of the State, most fre- 

 quently seen in spring, and very common summer resident in extensive 

 swamps or weedy lakes. This bird forms the connecting link 

 between the Rails and Gallinules and the swimming birds proper. It 

 kas the general structure of the birds of its family so modified that it is 

 more aquatic in habit than any of them, being better adapted for swim- 

 ming and diving than for locomotion on land. They are considered a 

 nuisance by sportsmen and a fraud by amateurs who sometimes mistake 

 them for ducks. 



In this vicinity they are abundant in Marclxand April, especially when 

 the streams are full, and again in early fall they frequent reedy and 

 weedy marshes, where their presence might not be suspected, so dense 

 is the cover. But if a stone or stick be thrown into the rushes, an instant 

 alarm is sounded, and the cackle of countless Mud Hens, as they are 

 eommcmly called, is heard from all parts of the marsh. 



The nest of the Mud Hen is built near or on the water. The eggs are 

 ten or twelve in number, clay-colored, uniformly dotted with dark brown. 

 They measure abdut 2.00 by 1'.25. 



