RALLID2E — THE COOTS — FULICA. 
393 
acters, translated from Messrs. Sclater & Salvin’s “ Clavis speciervm” (P. Z. S. 1868, p. 462), are 
as follows : — 
a'. Crissum black centrally, mixed with white laterally. 
Large : Bend of the wing black F. gigantea. 
Small : Bend of the wing white F arclesiaca. 
b'. Crissum wholly white. 
a". Secondaries concolored. 
Margin of the wing white . ■ F. armillata. 
Margin of the wing concolored . F. leucopyga. 
b". Secondaries tipped with white. 
Large : Bill yellow F. leucoptera. 
Small : Bill spotted with red F. americana. 
F. amerimna. 
The two species occurring (one of them accidentally) in North America differ in the following 
characters : — 
1. F. americana. Lateral and posterior feathers of crissum, edge of wing, and tips of secondaries 
white ; bill with a dark-brownish spot near end of each mandible, the frontal shield 
dark brown. Wing, 7.25-7.60 ; tarsus, 2.00-2.20 ; middle toe, 2.45-2.65. Hah. Whole 
of North and Middle America, and West Indies. 
2. F. atra. Only the edge of the wing and very narrow edge to outer primary white ; bill without 
dark spots near end, and frontal shield not conspicuously different in color from the bill. 
Wing, 7.70-8.80 ; tarsus, 2.25-2.35 ; middle toe, 2.85-3.15. Hah. Palsearctic Region ; 
accidental in Greenland. 
Fulica americana 
THE AMERICAN COOT. 
Fulica americana, Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 1788, 704. — Sw. & Rich. F. B. A. II. 1831, 404. — Nutt. Man. 
II. 1834, 229. — Aud. Orn. Biog. III. 1835, 291 ; V. 1839, 568 ; Synop. 1839, 212 ; B. Am. Y. 
1842, 138, pi. 305. — Cars, in Baird’s B. N. Am. 1858, 751. — Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 
559. — Coues, Key, 1872, 275 ; Check List, 1873, no. 474 ; 2d ed, 1882, no. 686 ; Birds N. W. 
1874, 541. — Ridgw. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 580. 
Fulica Wilsoni, Stephens, Shaw’s Gen. Zool. XII. 1824, 236. 
Fulica atra, Wils. Am. Orn. IX. 1825, 61, pi. 73, fig. 1 (nec Linn.), 
vol. i. — 50 
