BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



31 



The Messrs. Baird mention this species as a rare native in Cumberland 

 county. Their food, according to Audubon, u consists of grasses, seeds, 

 water insects, worms and snails, along with which they swallow a 

 good deal of sand or gravel." 



In addition to the examinations given in the above table, I found 

 in the gizzards of five of these birds, which were killed in Florida, in 

 March, 1885, numerous small yellow and brown seeds; also the stems 

 and leaves of different kinds of aquatic plants. 



SUBFAMILY FULICIN^l. COOTS. 

 GENUS FULJCA. LINN^US. 

 221. Fulica americana GMEL. 



American Coot. 



(Plate 8.) 



Hab. North America, from Greenland and Alaska, southward to the West Indies 

 and Central America. 



To recognize a Coot, remember it is about the size of a Pheasant, 

 bill short, thick and white, or nearly so, dark at base of frontal plate, 

 and a brownish spot near the end of each mandible. Head and neck 

 black ; body lead-gray color ; white on edge of wing and a white patch 

 under its tail ; toes furnished with broad lobes. The American Coot, 

 commonly known in eastern Pennsylvania as Mud-hen,* breeds in 

 various -localities throughout its extensive range. In the British prov- 

 inces it is said to be quite a common summer resident. Mr. Samuels 

 remarks that it breeds probably in all the New England States. Dr. 

 Coues has found it breeding in northern Montana and Dakota. Mr. 

 H. W. Henshaw found them to be very numerous at the Alkali lakes, 

 southern Colorado, where, according to this eminent authority, " they 

 breed in colonies among the rushes, the nests often being but a few 

 feet apart. These are very bulky structures, composed of weeds and 



*The vernacular name of Mudhen is also given to the Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris crepi- 

 tcms Gmel.) which breeds so abundantly in the extensive marshes about Atlantic City and else- 

 where on the Atlantic coast in New Jersey and southward. 



