The American Coot 



Recognition Marks. — Crow size, to appearance; substantially uniform colora- 

 tion (slaty black); white bill; lobate feet; known from preceding species by somewhat 

 larger size; bill not red and red of frontal shield more brownish. 



Nesting. — Nest: A bulky mass of tules, cattail-leaves, or fresh-cut sedges, 

 moored in shallow water, or built up on damp ground, or else more or less supported 

 and concealed by growths in deeper water. Eggs: 6-15, 16 of record; ovate or elongate 

 ovate, dull yellowish buff or yellowish olive-buff, finely, sharply, and uniformly sprinkled 

 with deep purplish red or seal-brown, appearing blackish. A v. size 49.5.x 33 (1.95 x 1. 30); 

 index 66.6. Season: April 15-June 15 (July at higher altitudes); one or two broods. 



General Range. — Chiefly North America. "Breeds from central British Colum- 

 bia, southern Mackenzie, Manitoba, Quebec, and New Brunswick, south to northern 

 Lower California, Texas, Tennessee, and New Jersey, and also in southern Mexico, 

 southern West Indies, and Guatemala; winters from southern British Columbia, Nevada, 

 Utah, the Ohio Valley, and Virginia, south to Colombia; casual at Ft. Yukon, Alaska, 

 and in Greenland, Labrador, and Bermuda" (A. O. U. Check-List, 3rd Ed.). 



Distribution in California. — Abundant resident in suitable localities through- 

 out the State. The breeding stations in the warmer sections are more or less deserted 

 at the end of the season, and it is surmised (Grinnell, Bryant and Storer) that an alti- 

 tudinal migration takes place. The Coot population of southern California is greatly 

 augmented in winter, and many birds resort to salt water. 



Authorities. — Gambel (Fulica americana), Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., ser. 2, 

 i., 1849, p. 224 (California) ; Grinnell, Univ. Calif. Publ. Zool., vol. v., 1908, p. 54 (San 

 Bernardino Mts. ; desc. nests, growth of young, etc.); Tyler, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 9, 



1913, p. 23 (San Joaquin Valley; habits, etc.); Cooke, U. S. Dept. Agric, Bull. no. 128, 



1914, p. 43, map (distr. and migr.) ; Grinnell, Bryant and Storer, Game Birds Calif., 1918, 

 p. 313 (desc, occurrence, habits). 



WHEN a canvas canoe propelled by a double-bladed paddle grows big 

 upon the horizon and then brushes noisily against the weedy outpost of 

 some tule swamp, an ominous hush falls over the scene, a silence broken 

 only by the rustling of the arum tops. You saw birds from the distance, 

 but every man Jack of them has fled. The reeds will tell no tales. Pres- 

 ently a grebe relieves the tension by snorting — that is the word — then 

 dives suddenly to quench his ill-timed mirth; next a leaden figure steals 

 from behind a distant clump of reeds and glances this way and that ap- 

 prehensively. It is only a man in a boat — perhaps — she did want to visit 

 that snail-bed before the sun got too high. So she advances, not without 

 many misgiving hitches of the head, across an intervening stretch of bare 

 water, and disappears behind a screen of reeds. The passage successfully 

 accomplished, another Mud-hen, and another, ventures forth, the last one 

 sniffing scornfully over the alleged danger. Confidence restored, the in- 

 vaded precincts begin to re-echo to their wonted sounds of life, splashing 

 and noise of pursuit, and mellow notes of several sorts. Only sit quiet and 

 your stranger presence will soon be accepted as matter of course. 



Where unmolested, Mud-hens fill about as large a place in the econ- 

 omy of a well-conducted swamp as do chickens in a barnyard. Especially 



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