142 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
with bluish terminally, a spot near the end of each mandible and the 
frontal shield dark brown; belly uniform slaty plumbeous. Winter 
adult : Similar, but frontal shield reduced in size, and the belly suffused 
with whitish. Young: Most like winter plumage, but lower parts much 
suffused with whitish, especially on throat and belly ; frontal shield rudi- 
mentary, and bill, in life, dull flesh-color, tinged with olive-greenish, the 
spots obsolete (dull light brownish in dried skins). Downy young: 
Blackish, the head and neck ornamented with orange- or salmon-colored 
crisp filamentous bristles, the upper parts more sparsely covered with 
similar but paler (whitish or pale orange-buff) filaments; bill orange- 
red, the upper mandible tipped with black. Length 13.00-16.00, wing 
7.25-7.60, culmen (to commencement of frontal shield) 1.25-1.60, tarsus 
2.00-2.20, middle toe 2.45-2.65. Hggs 6-12, 1.91 x 1.32. Hab. Whole of 
North America, Middle America, and most of West Indies; north to 
Greenland and Alaska, south to Veragua (and Trinidad ?). 
221. F. americana (GMEL.). American Coot. 
b%. Frontal shield whitish (pale brownish in dried skins), like bill, oval or ellip- 
tical, much wrinkled; bill more slender; otherwise, very similar to 
americana. Hab. Lesser Antilles (Guadeloupe and St. John’s). 
F. caribzea Ripaw. Caribbean Coot.! 
1 Fulica caribea Rivew., Proc. U. §. Nat. Mus. vii. Sept. 17, 1884, 359. 
