THE LIMP KIN. 
589 
the tip and red at the base, the latter hue being brightest at the breeding season. The legs 
and toes are green, and the naked part of the thigh is red. The female has not so much of 
the olive as her mate. 
The Common Coot, or Bald Coot, as it is sometimes called, is another of the water- 
birds, being seen chiefly in lakes, large ponds, and the quiet banks of wide rivers. 
The habits of the Coot much resemble those of the water hen, and it feeds after a similar 
fashion upon mollusks, insects, and similar creatures, which it finds either in the water or 
upon land. It is an admirable swimmer, swift and strong, and can grasp the branches firmly 
when perching, owing to the contraction of the foot, which is furnished with a wide flattened 
membrane on the edges of each toe, thus presenting a broad surface to the water, and, at the 
same time, permitting the foot to be used in grasping. The Coot may be seen either swim- 
ming or traversing the floating weeds in search of food, or wandering over the fields with quick 
but rather eccentric gait, pecking here and there at the herbage, and devouring a great quan- 
tity of destructive insects, snails, and slugs. When a very severe winter has frozen the ponds 
and lakes, the Coot will make off to the nearest coast, and along its unlocked shores obtain a 
living until the warm breezes of spring have loosened the icy body of its more congenial haunts. 
The nest of the Coot is a huge edifice of reeds and rank-water herbage, sometimes placed 
at the edge of the water, and sometimes on little islands at some distance from shore. I have 
often been obliged to wade for thirty or forty yards to these nests, which have been founded 
upon the tops of little hillocks almost covered with water. The whole nest is strongly though 
rudely made ; and if the water should suddenly rise and set the nest floating, the Coot is very 
little troubled at the change, but sits quietly on her eggs waiting for the nest to be stranded. 
Several instances are known where the nest and bird have been swept into a rapid current, and 
carried to a considerable distance. The eggs are generally about eight or ten in number, and 
their color is olive-white sprinkled profusely with brown. The shell is rather thick in propor- 
tion to the size of the egg, so that Coots’ eggs can be carried away in a handkerchief without 
much danger of being broken. 
The head and neck of the Coot are grayish -black, the upper parts are deep blue-black, and 
the under parts are blackish-gray with a tinge of blue. The bill is rather pale orange-red, and 
the horny plate on the forehead is rosy-red in the breeding season, fading into white at other 
times of the year, from which circumstance the Coot derives its sobriquet of “bald.” The 
legs are yellow-green, the naked part of the thigh orange-red, and the eye bright red. The 
length of the Coot is about seventeen or eighteen inches. 
The American Coot ( Fulica americana) is more particularly a southern bird. It is 
quite unique, having lobed feet, like the grebes, yet in other respects resembling the hen, or 
gallinaceous family. It is yet more singular in being the only species known in America. 
The Limpkin ( Aramus pictus). This is quite as singular and unique as the preceding, 
and is probably more unfamiliar than any other known American bird. It stands quite by 
itself in classification. At first sight it might be taken for a curlew, particularly as its 
plumage is like the yearlings of that group. The long bill and legs, and long neck quite recall 
the curlews. It is, however, allied to the rails. The editor of this edition has seen this 
bird on the Florida Beef, where it is called Water Turkey. It is esteemed as a table delicacy 
in that region. Though ungainly in aspect and movements, it alights preferably on trees. 
