FULICA AMEEICANA, AMERICAN COOT. 541 



B-nJ.—United States, southerly. Resident in the Southern States. Northward to 

 Massachusetts rarely, to Canada West, Kansas, Minnesota, and San Francisco. 

 West Indies. Central America. South America to Chili. 



Not obtained hy the Expeditions. 



I have not taken occasion to institute direct comparison of specimens, but believe 

 that our bird Tvill be found to be merely a variety of the European G. chloropus, as held 

 by Drs. HartJaub and Finsch, and as indicated in my work above cited. 



Included in the present connection on the strength of its occnrrence 

 in Kansas, as by the foregoing authority. Its dispersion in tropical 

 America is general and very extensive. In the United States it appears 

 to extend regularly only to the Middle districts, though apparentlj' 

 breeding occasionally in Massachusetts, and recorded as "common" 

 about Hamilton, Canada West, as well as occurring in Minnesota. It 

 winters in the South Atlantic and Gulf States. 



FULIGA AMEEIOAXA, Gm. 

 American Coot; Miid Hen. 



FuUca ameiicana, Gm., Svst. Nat. i, 1788, 704.— Lath., Ind. Orn. ii, 1790, 779 (Cinereous 

 Coot of Gen. Syii. v, 279).— Bp., Obs. Wils. If 25, No. 234 ; Syn. 1828, 338 ; List, 



1838, 53.— Sw. & EiCH., F. B. A. ii, 1831, 404.— Sab., Frank. Journ. 690.— Nutt., 

 Man. ii, 1834, 229.— AuD., Orn. Biog. iii, 1835, 291 ; v, 1839, 568 ; pi. 239 ; Syn. 



1839, 212 ; B. Am. v, 1842, 138, pi. 305.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 751.— CouES, Key, 

 1872, 275 ; and of all late American writers. — Habti,., J. f. 0. i, 1854, estra-h. 

 87 ; 1855, 99.— Gundl., J. f. 0. Iv, 1856, 430 (Cuba).— Bry., Pr. Bost. Soc. vii, 

 1859 (Bahamas).— GossB, B. Jam. 1847, 304 (Jamaica).— Leot., Ois. Trinidad, 

 504 (casually).— Gundl., Rep. Fis. i, 363 (Cuba).— Sci.., Ibis, i, 1859, 230 (Gua- 

 temala).— Newt., iUd. 260 (Santa Cruz).— SCL., P. Z. S. 1857, 206 ; 1859, 369.— 

 MOOKE, P. Z. S. 1859, 64.— SCL., P. Z. S. 1861, 81 (Jamaica) ; 1866, 179 (Mexico). — 

 Reixh., Ibis, iii, 1861, 12 (Greenland).— La we., Ann. Lyo. N. Y viii, 1864, 101 

 (Sombrero).— SCL. & Salv., P. Z. S. 1868, 468, f. 10.— Sitxd., Ofv. Vet. Ak. 1869, 

 587 (St. Bartholomew).— Salv., P. Z. S. 1870, 219 (Veragua).— Dall & Bank., 

 Tr. Chic. Acad, i, 1869, 293 (Alaska).— Eidgw., Ann. Lye. N. Y. x, 1874, 387 

 (Illinois). 



Fuhea wilsoni, Steph., Shaw's Gen. Zool. sii, 1824, 236. 

 Fuliea atra, Wjxs., Am. Orn. ix, 1825, 61, pi. 73, f. 1. 



Hob. — Entire temperate North America. Alaska {Vail). Greenland {Eeinliardt). 

 Mexico. West Indies. Central America. In South America replaced by an allied 

 form. 



List of speeimens. 



Lieutenant Warren's Expedition. — 8906, Upper Missouri ; 8907, Loup Fork of Platte. 

 Later Expeditions. — 59874-6, Colorado ; 60773, North Platte. 



Not only is the Coot extensively and very generally dispersed over 

 North America, but, unlike most water-birds, its breeding range is 

 almost equally wide. It has been observed to nest in various parts of 

 British America, in New England, in the Missouri region, along the 

 Pacific coast, and in the Gulf States. There is, nevertheless, a regular 

 migration in the spring and fall, when, in company with other water- 

 fowl, most of the Coots pass through on their way to or from the rather 

 northerly regions where they especially breed, only a few lingering in 

 suitable places along the route to nest. It appears that the whole body 

 of the birds leave the British Provinces and even the northern tier of 

 States in the fall to winter in the Southern States and beyond ; some 

 penetratiug into Mexico, the West Indies, and Central America. 



During the migrations, and especially that of the fall, the species is 

 frequently exposed for sale in our markets, and I have observed the 

 bird in every portion of our country where I have been, at one season 



