a pin head, and most of them mere specks. The eggs measure from 1.70 to 1.95 inches in length, by 
1.22 to 1.32 in breadth; average of nine specimens, 1.83 x 1.28. 
DIFFERENTIAL POINTS: 
“These have been already noted in the account of the nesting habits of the Florida Gallinule.” See 
page 164. 
REMARKS : 
To the above account of the nesting of the American Coot, kindly furnished me by Dr. Langdon, I have 
no original observations to add, having never found a nest of this species. The Coot is a familiar bird 
in the spring and fall throughout the entire State, being met with along all water courses as well as in 
the lakes and ponds. In March and April, and also in the fall, large flocks are often seen swimming 
about with wild ducks or feeding restlessly among, reeds and grass. They are shy, but rarely take wing, 
preferring to swim than to fly to a safe retreat. Sometimes they may be forced to fly ; in this event, 
they rise awkwardly from the water, skim over its surface, and alight a few hundred yards away. 
In the small ponds about Circleville several pairs of Coots breed every year. I have repeatedly seen 
the old birds during the summer months, and once a brood of young but a few days old. 
The Coot is not often killed for the table, although, as I am informed, its flesh is not much inferior 
to the Scaup or Ring-necked Ducks. 
The three eggs illustrated on Plate XLYII, Fig. 4, represent the common sizes, shapes, and mark- 
ings. The specimens from which the drawings were made were collected by Mr. J. B. Porter, in Ottawa 
county, in 1880. 
166 
