BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA 213 



FuUea platyuros Beehm, Vogel Deutschl., 1831, 711 (female with 16 rectrices). 

 Fulioa atra japonica Temminck and Schlegel, Slebold's Fauna Japonica, Aves, 



1849, 120, pi. 77 (Japan). 

 PuUca stenoleuca Packelhoff, Om. Monatsb., 1914, 288 (Germany). 

 FuUca atra commvnis, maeulati-pennis, megapus A. E. Beehm, Verz. Samml., 



1866, 12 (nomina nuda !). 



FUUCA AMERICANA AMERICANA Gmelin 



AMEaticAN Coot 



Adult (sexes alike), in summer. — Entire head and neck dark slate- 

 black to black with a slight gloss that shows very faint dark bluish 

 or greenish reflections at times; entire upperparts of body and the 

 upper wing coverts slate, sometimes with a faint olive-brownish wash 

 on the lower back; bend of the wing with some white; inner sec- 

 ondaries like the back, outer secondaries and primaries dull clove 

 brownish with a slate cast, the outeri secondaries broadly tipped 

 with white; the outer web of the outermost primary partly white; 

 rectrices dark slate-black; entire underparts (other than neck) ashy 

 neutral gray washed with slate, especially on the breast, sides, and 

 flanks; the tips of the feathers of the lower breast and of the mid- 

 abdomen whitish ; under tail coverts white ; under wing coverts ashy 

 slate; frontal shield larger than in winter birds, dark reddish brown 

 or chestnut, bill white or pale horn, banded subterminally with 

 maroon or dark reddish brown ; iris red to reddish brown ; tarsi and 

 toes greenish, claws black. 



Adult (sexes alike) , in winter. — Similar to the above, but with the 

 frontal shield smaller, the back more extensively washed with dull 

 olive brown; the under parts paler, the whitish tips to the feathers 

 being broader. 



Jvwenal (sexes alike). — Entire top and sides of head, hind neck, 

 and entire upper parts of body varying from pale ashy olive-brown 

 to chaetura drab, the feathers of the lower back and rump tipped 

 with wood brown; wings as in adult; rectrices slightly paler than 

 in adult and washed with brownish ; entire under parts much lighter 

 than in adult — pale olive-buff with ashy light neutral gray bases 

 to the feathers showing through as an undertone; sides of head, 

 neck, and body, the flanks and vent washed with ashy pale olive- 

 brown; under tail coverts white as in adult; frontal shield very 

 small; color of unfeathered areas as in adult, except that bill lacks 

 the subterminal band. 



Natal down (sexes alike). — Forehead, lores, and chin with short, 

 stiff, curly, hairlike down varying from flame scarlet to orange- 

 chrome; crown largely bare but with two median lines of short 

 blackish down and laterally supraorbitally bordered with a broader 

 line of longer but similarly black down, these meeting across the 



