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GRALLATOEES. 



Family RALLIDJE. (Bonaparte.) 



Genus Fulica. fLinnceus.J 



Generic Characters. — Beak middle-sized, strong, straight, 

 conic, compressed at its base, broader than thick; iipper 

 mandible dilated into a frontal plate at its base; point of 

 beak laterally compressed; upper mandible slightly longer than 

 the lower; nostrils lateral, in the middle of the beak, pierced 

 longitudinally, half closed by a membrane which conceals the 

 widest part. Legs long, moderately robust, naked above the 

 knee; three toes in front and one behind; all the toes long, 

 and bordered on each side by crescentic membranous festoons; 

 claws long and very sharp-pointed. Wings medium size; the 

 first primary shorter than the second and third, which are 

 the longest in the wing. 



CEESTED COOT. 



Fulica cristata. 



Fulica cristata. Gmelin. 



Foulqne a crete. Of THE French. 



KammSlesshuhn, Of the Geemans. 



Specific Characters. — The frontal plate shaped into two red 

 lobes or knobs, forming a crest above, below white, and divided 

 into two strips at the base of the beak. Length fifteen to six- 

 teen inches; carpus to tip eight inches; tarsus two inches and 

 a half; middle toe three inches and a half; claw of middle toe 

 four fifths of an inch; hind toe one inch;', beak one inch and a 

 half; depth of beak at base half an inch. 



