86 CINEREOUS COOT. 
“met with in Jamaica, Carolina, and other parts of North 
America.” This, I presume, is a mistake, as I have never 
seen but one species of coot in the United States. Brown, in 
speaking of the birds of Jamaica, mentions a coot which, in 
all probability, is the same as ours. The coot mentioned by 
Sloan is the common gallinule. So is also that spoken of in 
the “ Natural History of Barbadoes,” by Hughes, p. 71. 
In Lewis and Clark’s history of their expedition, mention 
is made of a bird which is common on the Columbia ; is said 
to be very noisy, to have a sharp, shrill whistle, and to asso- 
ciate in large flocks; it is called the black duck.* This is 
doubtless a species of coot, but whether or not different from 
ours cannot be ascertained. How much is it to be regretted 
that, in an expedition of discovery, planned and fitted out by 
an enlightened Government, furnished with every means for 
safety, subsistence, and research, not one naturalist, not one 
draughtsman, should have been sent to observe and _ per- 
petuate the infinite variety of natural productions, many of 
which are entirely unknown to the community of science, 
which that extensive tour must have revealed ! 
The coot leaves us in November for the southward. 
The foregoing was prepared for the press, when the author, 
in one of his shooting excursions on the Delaware, had the 
good fortune to kill a full-plumaged female coot. This was 
on the 20th of April. It was swimming at the edge of a 
cripple, or thicket of alder bushes, busily engaged in picking 
something from the surface of the water, and while thus em- 
ployed it turned frequently. The membrane on its forehead 
was very small, and edged on the fore part with gamboge. 
Its eggs were of the size of partridge-shot. And on the 13th 
of May, another fine female specimen was presented to him, 
* History of the Expedition, vol. ii. p.194. Under date of November 
30th, 1805, they say—‘ The hunters brought in a few black ducks of a 
species common in the United States, living in large flocks, and feeding 
on grass ; they are distinguished by a sharp white beak, toes separated, 
and by having no craw.” 
