676 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— ALEOTOBIBES—BALLIFOBMES. 



Mgh, shorter than head, the nostrils near its middle, ovcH. Toes without lateral margins. 

 Plumage beautiful with rich blue, etc. 

 885. I. marti'nica. (Of Martinique.) PuRPLB Gallinctle. Adult $ 9 ^ Head, neck, and 

 under parts beautiful purplish-blue, blackening on the beUy, the sides and lining, of wings 

 bluish-green, the orissum white. Above, olivaceous-green, the cervix and wing-coverts tinted 

 with blue. Quills and tail-feathers blackish, glossed on the outer webs with greenish. 

 Frontal shield blue ; bill carmine, tipped with yeUow ; legs yellow. The itontal shield is 

 obovate, with a point behind. Young with the head, neck, and lower back browiiish, the 

 under parts mostly white, mixed with oohrey. Length 10.00-12.00; extent about 22.00; 

 wing 6.50-7.00; tail 2.50-3.00; bill ixom gape about 1.25 ; tarsus 

 about 2.25 ; middle toe and claw about 3.00. S. Atlantic and Gulf 

 States, N. casually to New England, etc. ; resident in the South. 

 Also inhabits much of C. and S. Am., and W. I. 



64. Subfamily FULICIN/E: Coots. 



Bill and frontal plate much as in the Gallinules. Body depressed; 

 the under plumage thick and duck-like, to resist water. Feet 

 highly natatorial ; toes, including the hinder, lobate, being furnished 

 with large semicircular membranous flaps. The Coots are enji- 

 nently aquatic birds, swimming with ease, by means of their lobate 

 feet, like phalaropes and grebes ; but this ability results from vety 

 slight modification of a structure shared by the Eails and Gallinules. 

 There are about ten species, of both hemispheres, distinguished, 

 among other characters, by the size and shape of the frontal shield. 

 That, for instance, figured (fig. 468) is of an exotic species, much 

 larger than that of Fulica americcma, and differently shaped. One 

 species is remarkable for having the forehead singularly carun- 

 oulate ; the others closely resemble our common species. 

 276. FU'LICA. (Lat. fulica, or fulix, a coot, from the sooty color ; fuligo, soot.) Character 

 essentially as above. Tarsi shorter than middle toe, stout, very broadly scuteUate. Nostrils 

 linear, in a broad fossa, towards middle of bill. Tibise bare below. Wings moderate, rounded, 

 the 2d and 3d quOls usually longest. TaU very short, 12-feathered. Plumage dark slaty 

 color ; sexes alike. 

 686. F. america'na. American Coot. White-billed MuD-taN. Ckow Duck. Dark 

 slate-color, paler or grayish below, blackening on the head and neck, tinged with olive on the 

 back. Crissum, whole edge of wing, and tips of secondaries, white. QuiUs dusky, the outer 

 edge of the first primary white. Tail blackish. Bill white or flesh-color, marked with 

 reddish-black near the end and at base of frontal plate ; feet duU olivaceous or livid yellowish- 

 green ; iris carmine ; claws black. Young similar, paler and duller. Length 14.00-16.00 ; 

 extent 23.00-27.00 ; wing 7.00-8.00; tail 2.00; bill from the gape 1.25-1.50; tarsus about 

 2.00 ; middle toe and claw about 3.00. The frontal plate is much smaller in this than in some 

 other species, in which it covers all the forehead. Entire temperate N. Am., even to Alaska 

 and sometimes Greenland ; Mexico, Cent. Am. and W. I. ; abundant, and breeds throughout 

 its range ; migratory northerly ; resident in the South. Inhabits during the breeding season, 

 and mostly, reedy sloughs, pools, and sluggish streams, seeking safety in concealment rather 

 than by flight. Nesting most like that of grebes ; a hollowed heap of bits of dead reeds, 

 just out of the water, sometimes " floating" in the sense that the mass of broken-down reeds 

 upon which it rests lies on the water. Eggs about a dozen, 1.75 to 2.00 long by 1.20 to 1.35 

 broad, shaped like an average hen's egg, clear clay-color, uniformly and minutely dotted with 



Fig. 468. — Frontal shield of 

 a species of coot. 



