The American Coot 



ing reed stems is so close that they would be overwhelmed by a rise in the 

 water. Mr. Verdi Burtch reports 1 a pair of Gallinules which built up 

 their nest when thus threatened, and elevated the eggs ten inches in a 

 single day. 



Eggs to the number of six or eight, rarely more, are deposited in this 

 basket, and incubation may begin before the complement is reached. The 

 eggs, both in shape and coloring, proclaim their affinities with the Rail. 

 Although lusterless when fresh, and averaging perhaps a little more richly 

 spotted, liver-brown on a background of cartridge-buff, the eggs can be 

 almost exactly duplicated by those of the King Rail (Rallus elegans) or 

 California Clapper Rail (R. obsoletus). Now and then one comes upon 

 Coots' eggs which have liver-brown markings instead of blackish, but those 

 of the Gallinule are much larger, and the texture of the shell is coarser. 



A brood of Gallinule chicks — tiny black fellows with funny silver 

 whiskers — are fully as cunning as any raised on shore. Indeed, I do not 

 know of a more heartening sight in nature than the maternal tenderness of 

 a mother Gallinule, with her wise duckings and her graceful bobbings, 

 attended by the earnest obedience of these tiny bobbers and patterers. 

 The little fellows will peep lustily if but a weed-stem separates them from 

 their fond parent; and, indeed, how otherwise could they subsist in this 

 place which looks to them like a trackless Amazonia of gigantic forests! 



No. 310 



American Coot 



A. O. U. No. 221. Fulica americana Gmelin. 



Synonyms. — Mud-hen. Water-hen. Crow-duck. Poul d'eau. Ivory- 

 billed Coot. 



Description. — Adult: General color blackish slate, bluer-tinted above, browner- 

 tinted below; head and neck pure black; lower scapulars and interscapulars tinged with 

 olive-green; edge of wing, exterior margin of first primary, tips of secondaries, and lateral 

 and posterior under tail-coverts white. Bill ivory-white, a dark brown spot near the 

 tip of each mandible; frontal shield brownish red; tarsi and feet greenish; toes margined 

 by scalloped flaps. Adult in winter: Plumage lightened below by whitish tips of 

 feathers; frontal shield reduced in size. Immature: Similar but more extensively 

 tipped with whitish; frontal shield still further reduced; red spots on bill wanting; bill 

 obscure flesh-color or with olive tinge. Downy young: Nearly bald on crown; general 

 color slaty black; head and neck decorated with orange-colored bristly filaments; 

 remaining upperparts with similar but paler filaments. Bill orange-red, narrowly 

 tipped with black. Length about 381 (15.00); wing 186.7 (7.35); tail 55.9 (2.20); bill 

 (including frontal shield) 44.5 (1.75); tarsus 53.3 (2.10); middle toe and claw 78.7 

 (3-iQ)- 



'Auk. Vol. XXXIV., July. 1917. p. 319. 



1557 



