CINEREOUS COOT. 
127 
nil, and Clark’s history of their expedition, 
Cyj is made of a bird which is common on the 
^ilrill very noisy, to have a sharp, 
the i'' largo flocks ; it is called 
W This is doubtless a species of coot, 
^Sce or not different from ours cannot be 
’■tamed. How much is it to be regretted, that, in 
by **Pedition of discovery, planned and fitted out 
’’’sa government, furnished n ith every 
ajj ior safety, subsistence, and research, not one 
ohj„'^^ i^t, not one draftsman, should have been sent, to 
ftod perpetu.ate the infinite variety of natural 
t|i;®”otions, many of whicli are entirely unknown' to 
lHu ^^Otinunity of science, which that extensive tour 
rj, have revealed ! 
-j.,'® toot leaves ns in November for the southward, 
amii*® foregoing was prepared for the press, when the 
in one of his shooting excursions on the Dela- 
fen®; i’nd the good fortune to kill a full plumaged 
.Coot. This was on the ‘20th of April. It was 
nt the edge of a cripple, or thicket of alder 
tUff ®®> husily engaged in picking something from the 
ffeq ® cf the water, and, white thus employed, it turned 
Staqlj®”tly. The membrane on its forehead was very 
tggq ’ edged on the foi’c j)art with gamboge. Its 
hitjj "’.ci’e of the size of partridge shot. And on the 
to ®’ ^foy> another fine female specimen was presented 
Of > "'hieh agreed with the above, with the exception 
Ofld ®’*jnbraue on the forehead being nearly as large 
?taqi^®’”inent as that of the male. From the circiim- 
io pf I ®i^ the eggs of all these birds being very small, it 
‘tnle that the coots do not breed until July. 
* J>. 
jEj-peeZihon, vol. ii, p. 194. Under date of 
lyOo, they say ; “ The hunters brought in a few 
floch ^ species eonunon in the United States, living in 
feeding on grass : they are distinguished by a sharp 
toes separated, and liy having no craw.” 
