FLORIDA GALLINULE. 
219. Gallinula r/aleata. 13 inches. 
Plumage gray, changing to blackish about the head; the back 
a brownish color. Bill and frontal plate bright red, the former 
being tipped with yellow, legs greenish with a red ring about 
the top. The grayish side feathers tipped with white at the 
wing and lower ones with black. They have an almost endless 
variety of notes; all of them harsh and explosive. 
Nest. —They build in colonies in the marshes, making their 
nests of rushes and grasses woven together and attached to 
stalks of rushes quite often over the water. They lay from 
six to ten eggs of a creamy buff color (1.60x1.15). 
AMERICAN COOT. 
221. Fulica americana. 15 inches. 
Head and neck nearly black, shading into a gray over the 
whole bird. Toes lobed and scalloped along the edge; bill 
white with a blackish band near the tip; shield narrow and 
brownish, ending in a point. 
Nest.- —This is placed in the same localities as are the Rails, 
and they have the same retiring habits. Six to fifteen eggs of 
a grayish color finely specked all over with black or brown 
(1.80 x 1.30). 
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