COOT. 
227 
band of chesnut, the lower mandible marked on each side with 
a squarish spot of the like colour, edged on the lower part with 
bright yellow or gamboge, thence to the tip pale horn colour ; 
membrane of the forehead, dark chesnut brown ; irides cornelian 
red ; beneath the eyes, in most specimens, a whitish spot ; the 
head and neck are of a deep shining black, resembling satin ; 
back and scapulars dirty greenish olive ; shoulders, breast, and 
wing-coverts, slate blue ; the under parts are hoary; vent black; 
beneath the tail pure white ; primaries and secondaries slate, the 
former tipped with black, the latter with white, which does not 
appear when the wing is closed; outer edges of the wings white; 
legs and toes yellowish green, the scalloped membrane of the lat- 
ter lead colour ; middle toe, including the claw, three inches and 
three quarters long. 
The bird from which the foregoing description was taken, 
was shot in the Delaware, below Philadelphia, the 29th of October, 
1813. It was an old male, an uncommonly fine specimen, and 
weighed twenty-three ounces avoirdupois. It is deposited in Peale’s 
Museum. 
The young birds differ somewhat in their plumage, that of 
the head and neck being of a brownish black ; that of the breast 
and shoulders pale ash ; the throat gray or mottled ; the bill 
bluish white ; and the membrane on the forehead considerably 
smaller. 
The young females very much resemble the young males; all 
the difference which I have been enabled to perceive is as follows: 
breast and shoulders cinereous; markings on the bill less; upper 
parts of the head, in some specimens, mottled ; and being less in 
size. 
The lower parts of these birds are clothed with a thick down, 
and, particularly between the thighs, covered with close fine fea- 
thers. The thighs are placed far behind, are fleshy, strong, and 
bare above the knees. 
