236 
Wilson's coot. 
It breeds on the borders of lakes, rivers, and larg'c 
ponds, forming a nest of flags amongst the reeds, and 
other aquatic plants, close to the surface of the water, 
and rendered buoyant by accumulating a quantity of 
materials together for the purpose of keeping the eggs 
dry : the latter are from eight to a dozen in number, 
generally the former, of a dirty white, sprinkled with 
small deep brown and red spots. As soon as the 
young are hatched they plunge into the water, dive 
and swim about with great freedom, but do not quit 
the mother for some time : they are at first covered 
with a sooty-coloured down. 
These birds generally go in quest of their food in 
the dusk of the evening and at night ; it consists, for 
the most part, of herbage, seeds, insects, and slugs, 
and sometimes small fish. They rarely leave the 
water, except for food, as they fly and walk very 
awkwardly. 
Wilson's coot. 
r-(Fulica Wilsoni.) 
Fu. fronte saturate-castaneo , corpore nigricarite, crisso nigro, tec- 
tricibusque cciudaz iriferioribus albis. 
Coot with the front deep chesnut, the body dusky, the vent blacky 
the under tail-coverts white. 
Fulica Americana. Sabine. Frank, J own. App. 690. 
Common Coot. Wils. Amer. Orn. ix.p. \ .pl. Ixxiii.yi 1. 
