18 CINEREOUS COOT. 



and neck being of a brownish black ; tbat of the breast and shoulders 

 pale ash ; the throat gray or mottled ; the bill bluish white ; and the 

 membrane on the forehead considerably smaller. 



The young females very much resemble the young males ; all the 

 difference which I have been enabled to perceive is as follows : breast 

 and shoulders cinereous ; markings on the bill less ; upper parts of the 

 head, in some specimens, mottled ; and being less in size. 



The lower parts of these birds are clothed with a thick down, and, 

 particularly between the thighs, covered with close fine feathers. The 

 thighs are placed far behind, are fleshy, strong, and bare above the 

 knees. 



The gizzard resembles a hen's, and is remarkably large and muscular. 

 That of the bird which has been described, was filled with sand, gravel, 

 shells, and the remains of aquatic plants. 



Buffon describes the mode of shooting Coots in France, particularly 

 in Lorraine, on the great pools of Tiaucourt and of Indre ; hence we 

 are led to suppose that they are esteemed as an article of food. But 

 with us who are enabled, by the abundance and variety of game, to 

 indulge in greater luxuries in that season when our Coots visit us, they 

 are considered as of no account, and are seldom eaten. 



The European ornithologists represent the membrane on the forehead 

 of the Fulica atra as white, except in the breeding season, when it is 

 said to change its color to pale red. In every specimen of the Cinereous 

 Coot which I have seen, except one, the membrane of the forehead was 

 of a dark chestnut brown color. The one alluded to was a fine adult 

 male, shot in the Delaware, at Philadelphia, on the eleventh of May ; 

 the membrane was of a pure white ; no white marking beneath the eye ; 

 legs and feet of a bright grass green. 



In Wilson's figure of the Coot, accompanying this volume, there are 

 some slight errors : the auriculars are designated, which should not have 

 been done, as they are not distinguishable from the rest of the plumage 

 of the head and neck, which is all of a fine satiny texture ; and the 

 outline of the bill is not correct. 



Latham states that the Common European Coot, F. atra, is " met 

 with in Jamaica, Carolina, and other parts of North America." This 

 I presume is a mistake, as I have never seen but one species of Coot in 

 the United States. Brown, in speaking of the birds of Jamaica, men- 

 tions a Coot, which, in all probability, is the same as ours. The Coot 

 mentioned by Sloane, is the Common Gallinule. So is also that spoken 

 of in the Natural History of Barbadoes, by Hughes, p. 71. 



In Lewis and Clark's History of their expedition, mention is made 

 of a bird, which is common on the Columbia ; is said to be very noisy, 

 to have a sharp, shrill whistle, and to associate in large flocks ; it is 



