144 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



LXXX. PULICA LiNN^us. 1758. 



220. European Coot. 



Fulicaatra Linn. 1758. 



Accidental in Greenland. {A. 0. U. List.) Collected in South 

 Greenland, and now in the Copenhagen Museu.i. Winge.) 



221. American Coot. Mud-hen. 



Fulica americana Gmel. 1788. 



Twice obtained in Greenland in the same year (1854) ; once at 

 Godthaab and once at Disco Bay. {^Arct. Man.) One shot on 

 a lake near Nain, Labrador, several years ago. {Packard^ Not 

 very common in the autumn in Nova Scotia. {Downs.) A summer 

 visitant, increasing in numbers in New Brunswick. ( Chamberlain.) 



Breeding in the valley of the St. Lawrence and western Quebec 

 and throughout Ontario, and westward to the Pacific coast and 

 Vancouver Island. The writer found it scattered throughout 

 the prairie region, generally in large flocks, but often only a 

 few pairs, or one pair, in small ponds. The chief breeding- 

 grounds are in Manitoba and northwestward. It was breed- 

 ing in Vermilion Lakes at Banff, Rocky Mountains, May 

 nth, 1891. Richardson says its northern limit is Lat. 53°, and 

 Bernard Ross puts its limit at Fort Simpson, on the Mac- 

 kenzie, in Lat. 62" 30'. Although quite common in British 

 Columbia, only one specimen is recorded by Nelson as taken in 

 Alaska. 



Breeding Notes. — The Coot builds on a mass of old reeds. 

 The nest is composed of small pieces of reeds and marsh 

 jrass, with no particular lining. The eggs, six or more in 

 lumber, are of a clear clay colour, dotted all over with specks 

 jf dark brown. As the old bird has a habit of covering the nest 

 3ver whenever she leaves, it is very hard to find. Breeds in the 

 narshes around Ottawa, Ont. (G. R. White) Breeds in the same 

 ocalities with the Florida Gallinule, and constructs its nest in the 

 same manner. (yV. Saunders.) Nests in reeds and grass growing 

 n the water along the margins of lakes and ponds. The nest is 

 ;omposed of reeds and grass, and rather small and shallow. The 

 lovxig leave the nest as soon as they are hatched. Found breed- 



